The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Daniel Cormier TV - Daniel Cormier & Ben Askren on Khamzat Chimaev STEALING Sean Strickland's DDP fight, Islam vs. Ilia

Episode Date: November 2, 2024

History was MADE at UFC 308 in Abu Dhabi, so Daniel Cormier and Ben Askren are BACK with another edition of Funky and the Champ! Askren and Cormier GO IN ON why Khamzat's DOMINANT performance vs. Robert Whittaker may have him "skipping the line" for a title shot vs. Dricus Du Plessis. And after knocking out Max Holloway, Ilia Topuria has his eyes set on "submitting" Islam Makhachev. Ben and DC break down that fight, and Askren tells Cormier why that's the one matchup Topuria would still lose. Plus, DON'T MISS Ben Askren talk Francis Ngannou vs. Dana White, and why he too didn't see eye-to-eye with Dana. #Volume #HerdSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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I'm Daniel Cormier. That has been asking. What's up, Funky, Ben? It feels like we haven't done this for a long time. It hasn't been that long, though. It has. You're missing me fast. I believe it's been two weeks.

I could be wrong. I don't know. I'm not to go through the content and see if it's been longer. That's what my son says. I don't know if your kid's in it now, but if I say something that's questionable to him, he goes, search it up.

Yeah, it's the best. Having Google is the best. Yo, I went arguments with my friends just straight out of Google because they're idiots. They don't use it. I'll be having stats, everything.

It's the best. So you're a pretty good bullshitter, though. So I would imagine because, you know, bullshitters used to get away with a lot more. more like back in the day. Yeah. Fact check us.

Now you could fact check us, so it kind of kills my game a little bit. It kills my game a little bit. But you're evolving. Dude, I used to get dudes. Oh, so it was right. It has been three weeks since we did it. See?

So you won this fact check. You don't care about me. You just don't care about me, dog. It's really messed up. And he's going to ask to see me this weekend. No, you ain't going to see me this weekend. If you actually missed me, maybe you would. I'm not coming to them to them, Vancouver.

They're communist something. Oh my God. They are. Don't get me started on Justin Trudeau. What to make this a political podcast? Ben, what are you talking about, Doug? You're crazy. I am not crazy.

Just search it up. You'll figure it out. Ben, hey, last weekend I was in Abu Dhabi. Dude, the travel was brutal. I went 16 hours each way twice since August. Did you get a director, I go direct from San Francisco, but it's, it's too long.

Six and a half hours in that tube is not, it's not good, man. You're thinking of one of those lay down beds, which that does? I've done that a few time. It does make it incredibly easier. It does make it easier, but still, it's, it's, not great. You're not sleeping on those planes, like not, not, not over the course of that time. So I'm at UFC 308. I'm sitting out with all these fighters.

Ilius says he's going to starch max. He goes out and he does it. Hamzot says he's not. going to be any different against Robert Whitaker than he was before. He goes and he does that. Shara Bullet does a spinning back fist. Double. A double back fist.

Then he gave, Ron Murphy had a sick fight. Every fight on that card was insane. So when you broke down that event as a whole, what was like your biggest takeaway? Like, was it, Hamzaa Chimaya is the best middle way in the world? Was it,

Ilya may just be the most well-rounded featherweight, ever seen, even though we've seen all of those guys. What was your biggest takeaway from UFC 308? I would say to Pura, probably. And this is an, I love these cards over there. Saturday afternoon, pay-per-views are tremendous. I wish they did a few of them per year. It's so great to this.

You know, Saturdays. Just put them on Saturday afternoon, dude, chill out. You're watching. You're hanging out. Fights are going on. And then they're done by, you know, like 430 or whatever. And you can go do whatever you want with your family. It's awesome.

Um, Tuporia was really, really impressive. Um, he's good everywhere. You know, I was actually kind of thinking like, um, Tuporia might be what we thought Connor was going to end up being or we thought Sean O'Malley was going to be. He's got a great personality. Can I ask you something real quick to stop you on that point? I don't mean to cut you off.

Go for it. Did we really think Sean O'Malley was going to be that? Just be honest. Like, I thought, I thought once he got rolling. in terms of personality, maybe. But to poor you came here as a wrestler, O'Malley doesn't have that. Connor never had that like that, to me, limits the idea that those guys could have been great long-reaning champion. Well, I actually think Connor had he stayed focused and not done the booger sugar.

Probably could have been, you know, I mean, he just, he just kind of stopped fighting. Like, he was really, really a good fighter. He had a few weaknesses. but then, you know, once he kind of achieved the level of fame, his life feels like it just changed. And the frequency at which he fought went way down. You know, he never defended his title at either weight class, not one time, but 55, 45 or 55.

And Sean O'Malley, obviously, like the Peter Yan fight, showed some weaknesses, but then it kind of appeared that maybe he's going to get over him and get through them. Marab, I suppose, was the boogeyman in that, division. There's a couple, right? Because Umar, Umar also has the same ability. Yeah, that's fair. It makes it hard to think that he would be able to just continuously get through those guys. Yeah. With those wrestle heavy approaches. Yeah. And now with Topuria, you see,

you know, Holloway and Volcanowski kind of ran that division for a really long time. I had to go back and look, but it feels like many years. No, many years. And he took about back to back. Non-competitive. Neither about was really all that competitive. Um, He got them both in less than one fight. He got Max in the third. He got bulk in the second. He got through both of them dudes. Two of the three greatest feather weights of all times.

He got through them in less than five rounds, bro. It's crazy to think of what this kid's doing. And he's still young. And, you know, they matched him up with some interesting fights. Even for a wrestler, sometimes wrestlers, maybe don't have great grappling. But, you know, they put him against Bryce Mitchell and he dominated him. That was the first fight where I was like, This guy's really good.

Like, holy moly. They put him against Ryan Hall, who's a very tricky. Like, that's kind of like a hard person to beat because he's so skilled in one area. So they kind of like have thrown him against a lot of different people. Do you think maybe that, though? One of the biggest knocks on Sugar Sean was that they didn't think he was fighting the best. They did. Yeah, that's a big knock.

Right? Do you think that, though, because of Ilya going through what he went through with those types of fights, he went through Bryce Mitchell, who had the. time was the man and Ilya beat him to the point then he just grabbed it and put him in an arm triangle and choked him out yeah then he was so bad he beat Josh Emmett bro do you remember how bad he beat he beat Josh Emmett in Orlando it was so ugly that was ugly what that like the worst scorecard ever in UFC history wasn't like a 50 42 or something to that effect he beat the crap out of Josh Emmett it was yeah and Josh Emmett's the hardest puncher in the division so he kind of knew like

this dude is really really scary yeah so he starts doing all the these things and then he goes out there and he wins the fight against Volk. And then I started saying to myself, if this kid, hey, because the kid's a superstar, like, bro, the president of Spain, it's like, is there a president? Well, he's got that buddy that plays soccer that's like really famous. Sergio Ramos is the man, bro. I don't know nothing about soccer. So, but I guess he's famous. I've made friends with Sergio Ramos just by knowing Iliot to bore you. And to me, that's awesome. Oh, look at D.C. just name dropping on the podcast. That's what I was, bro. I'm president of Sergio Roger Ramon, that we play FIFA together.

Stop, did you see my suit Saturday? Did you see that suit? What were you wearing purple? Bro, it was like a, it was like a maroonish burnt. You'll me tell you why? Burgundy. We can't be friends anymore. You're getting too fancy.

You kept your humble roots for a long time. You wear an effing burgundy suits and say you're friends with Sergio Ramos. I don't know if we could do this anymore. You want to know why I wore? Why? Before, they go, hey, you know we're in Abu Dhabi. Steve Harvey's going to be there. I said, oh, hook me up there.

Because you know Steve Harvey always has a guy from Family Feud? You know Steve Harvey wears like that nice suit all the time. I took a picture with him. I said, Steve, they told me you were coming, dog. I said, so give me a nice suit. He said, boy, you're crazy. D.C. You know, I love Steve Harvey.

Dog. You know my favorite clip on almost all the internet? There's just one clip. I'm sure you had to see it. So Steve Harvey does the family feud, which is a great show that I watched. It is. Yes, he's the man. And there's an attractive one.

in and this dude and they're at the buzzer, you know, when they come up to the buzzer, you know what I'm talking about? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And this dude just starts wolfing at her. And Steve Harvey's like, Row ain't your wife over there? Have you seen that clip? Boy, he always like, I don't want to be you tomorrow because, hey, some of the stuff they say on family feud.

I'm like, these people are crazy because they're married, hold on. I'm trying to find the picture of me and Steve. I walk right of me. He came up to me, Steve, what's up, boy? I said, Steve, I said, they told me you were coming today, baby. I said, make my suit real night. Hey, look at that. Oh, my gosh.

You're too funny. I love it because, okay, we're friends again because now you're humble admitting like you're so excited to meet Steve Harvey. Back like in 2008 when I posed that picture when you were too scared to talk to the basketball players that I didn't know him and I had to go say, hey man, my friend wants a picture with you. Can we make this happen? Because guess what, boy, it's hard like, bro, they told me.

I saw a story yesterday. where this famous rapper went up to Michael Jordan, asked for a picture, and Michael Jordan, like, Custum all went crazy on him. Well, Michael Jordan, he's different. He's different. Bro, still, it's hard to ask for photos. Anyhow, back to Iliot to Porte.

Bro. His son walks in there and hands him a rose. Well, he's got a kid? He's got two. He's got that little boy, and he's got a new daughter. And he just had, well, did you see the kid? He's, and dude, it all works. It just kind of all works for Ilya to pour you, right?

He's always well-dressed, good-looking kid, beautiful family. Didn't you ask him why he was so rich or something? Bro, I had to ask him. Bro, man, his gym, bro, my gym in my house. No lie, bro. Cage, hyperbaric chamber, weight stuff, mats, mallmats, photos up, maybe $110,000. His was $2 million in Spain.

man. How does he have that money? He's just exaggerating. How does he have that money? Maybe he took out a loan. No. Because you know you make your money once you're the champion. I built all that gym.

And it might have cost $110,000. So what was his answer? He said he does things outside of M&A. Uh-oh. Man, my man's running some cam girls or some type of ring over there, isn't he? Like the Tates. Bro, he was at, he was shadow boxes on a helipad at the top of his apartment building. which was unbelievable.

This guy's got some of my hat. It works. I don't want to ask any more questions. If I know any more, they might have to kill me. Patty Pimlet said he still beats him, though. Do you think? Patty Pimlet's crazy as shit. Give me a very big.

Patty Pimlet said he still beats him. They were scheduled to fight. Patty Pembley. Oh, in like, Cage Warriors or something? Huh? In cage warriors or something? I don't know. Patty Pimbleet said he still believes he beats him.

Seriously. I just thought on M.M.A. Junkie said, here, let me read it to you. I still, I still believe I still believe I could be said July of a wrestler at the world championships tomorrow. You do? No. No. I said I was making a comparison

to the nonsense. I'm going to say why. Look, Patty said both he called him, remember he called him, he would beat him if they cross paths. He's a heavy, heavy hand sanitizer boy with the wind because he called him heavy hand sanitizing. Heavy.

Well done, Elliot. Give you your do lad. 16 old hand sanitizer boy. I can't wait from come back up to lightweight. I still think I beat him. I really do. What is the hand safe has a comment? Called him a hand safe because he's like scrubbing,

like opening the curtains or something. Chell was telling me about yesterday. It was weird. He said he's just a hand sanitized. A boy. They were going to fight each other. That's weird. After watching that dude last weekend?

You think Volk beats him in the rematch? No. Really? Volkanowski beats Deporia? Yeah. No, I don't think he beat him? No. Wow.

That's, I mean, when, when do younger guys get worse, right? So that's the thing, right? They always say the younger guy wins a rematch. Yeah,

always. They always, I mean, they're getting better, 27. Think about where you were at when you were 27. You were just coming into your prime.

You didn't even start fighting until like, I don't know, 31 or something. I mean, come on. I started at 31 years old. 31. That's what I'm saying.

27, that's just going to your prime. Volkanowski has been in some wars. I mean, I don't know. I'm honestly like, give Diego Lopes a shot. Why not, why not, right? You want to give the new guy? Yeah, I think so.

You think Diego Lopez beats him? Nope. Who beats him? None of them right now. He's the best. That's why he's the champion. He fought everybody. And, you know, if you're, I don't know what to free.

This is hard. This is hard because you actually don't love to just give flowers that much. Yeah, he's really good. Daniel, Rewin, Luis, go find this. Whenever he beat up, we were doing the show,

when he beat up, was it, Bryce Mitchell? When he beat Bryce Mitchell up, I'm like, dude, that guy is really good. Like,

I'm really, like, yes, I do not get really impressed. This is December 10, 2022. So somewhere on that, I watch him, I said,

oh my God, this guy's freaking, like, he's really good. So what I was going to say is, I hope they follow the prayer strategy, and I hope to Puriya wants to be active. And I hope they,

hope they keep rolling them out here every somewhere between three and five months, right? Keep him active, make him a gigantic star because I think he's that good and I think he can beat up all these guys, no problem. What's up guys? The NBA season is back and is the best time of the year for the boy, D.C. Because you know me in my other lifetime, I was a basketball player shooting threes like Steph Curry. So once again, I'm partying up with the draft kick sports book to give all new customers a fantastic

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see dkng.com slash B-Ball. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds.

I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions,

my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. Now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music.

The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Hey, this is Robert from the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast. Joe and I are both lifelong Star Wars fan, so we're celebrating May the 4th with a brand new week of fun, thought-provoking Star Wars-related episodes.

Join us as we tackle science and culture topics from a galaxy far, far away, such as the biology of tantons and wampas on the ice planet hot, or the practicality and corporate business sense of the Sith rule of two. Listen to Stuff to Bo Your Mind on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Diana Maria Riva, actress, mother, lover, and a Gen X woman walking through life one hot flash and hormonal crying jag at a time. You ladies know what I mean. I'll bet you a Paramedipausal chin here you do. So let's talk about it.

Join me on my new podcast. How hard can it be with Deanna Maria Riva, where I call on my Gen X squads from Ohio to Hollywood as we navigate midlife's most fantastic BS. All of a sudden, I'd had hanginess happening on my own. I was like, what the hell is that? I was married when I had her, so I didn't even consider how empty that nest was going to be. Mood swings, night sweats, fupas, sex drive.

Wait, what sex? Dating at first. 45. How hard can it be getting naked at 50 with the new guy? That one's kind of hard. Well, that's lighting. They say we can't polish a turd, but we're sure going to try. So let's get blunt with laughs, tears, or tears of laughter, and dive into it unfiltered and unbothered and ask, how hard can it be? I cannot believe I'm about to say this out loud in public. Listen to How Hard Can It Be with Diana Maria Riva as part of my Cultura Podcast Network available on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Hey everyone, it's Ryder Strong and Will Ferdell from PodMeets Whirl. And now the Pod Meets Twirled podcast. We're two men who were completely clueless to reality TV, who now have covered Dancing with the Stars, traitors, and we're gearing up for the season finale of Survivor. So yeah, now we're experts. I know we annoyed a lot of our listeners by our severe lack of survivor knowledge. That is the point of this show.

I'm just going to remind you. I have watched some Survivor. I obviously haven't watched a number. Did people not like it? Like what was... Yeah. Just because we... Yeah.

We'll be recapping the big conclusion in the 50th season from the final attempts at gameplay to the desperate pleas of finalists to a bunch of... Ha, ooh. Ha ha, ooh. Again, we are experts.

So make sure to tune in to PodMeets Twirled for all our Survivor 50 takes. Listen to PodMeets Twirl on the IHeard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Okay. Okay. Now with that being said, He said he would submit Islam.

I would wait a couple of fights for that. If I were the UFC, I would say, hey, we'll do that. We will do that. Because Islam has Armand. That's a tough one. Islam has Armand. So you've got at least one more fight for Islam. You know, and let's say if Chandler beats Olivera, they said they would give him a title shot.

So I think they would probably, I think they would probably want to honor that. I think Dana really likes Michael Chandler. So they would probably honor that. So that gives you, we'll say, a year-ish, maybe a little more to continue to build Ilya. And then think about that. If you've given him two or three more fights and he's become the gigantic star, you've got Islam who's won two more fights now. That's a mega, mega, mega fight.

That's a mega fight. Yes. Is that one that you'd consider it a much closer fight? What? That's one where I'd be like Luis and I'd say, Daniel, I've never asked you. for anything. Give me a damn front row seat to this. Louise, come on, man. You got front row seats.

Louise states front row seats. Luis literally sat when a fighter sat at the sphere, bro. Luis literally sat in the front row. Whenever they did it, I called the later at the UFC, I go, why did you give him such a great fucking guy? I was all pissed off, bro. I was so mad. He's sitting next to Justin Gates you the whole time. It was crazy.

That's so funny. But that's a fight that you think would be more competitive. Because right now it sounds like But let me ask you this, do you think Armand can compete with Islam? I think it's a competitive fight, but I'm definitely leaning towards Islam winning the fight. You know, Dustin had a good battle with Islam, but I think Islam's, he's the champion.

So there are times when the person who is a champion, and Chale talks about this. The person, a great example would be Marab and Sean. Sean got the belt, but he did not fight Marab on the way up. right and they had prevented marab from the shop marab had prevented himself a little bit because he didn't want to fight aljama and i did it but when sean got the belt we weren't certain that he was the best guy in the division because we're like well there's this marab guy who's really good and he's got to fight him to prove to us he's the best and there's other divisions that are like that you honestly a little bit like ddp and shemaiah at this point in time like you think jimmyov b's dd i i want to see it before i crown ddp i mean he he is holding the belt right now but you know like with wrestling The thing we have, say we have the world championships tomorrow is like, they're all going to wrestle. And you know this, Daniel.

Wrestling's real because there's no one who says, oh, if I were to wrestle there, I'd beat everybody. It's like, no, shut up. Show up. Show up we're not the best. That's it. And fighting, we don't always get that all the time. But I feel like Tupour is the best in his division. I feel like he just beat the two best that.

I mean, Max had the belt from 16 to 19, then Vogue had it from 19 to 24. That's crazy, right? So that's like eight years. were talking. Yeah. I said it was a while, but eight years, that's freaking insane.

Yeah. Yeah. So, but you feel like he's the best. But then Hamzaa Chama breaks Robert Whitaker's teeth. And then. That's crazy.

They bumped him up 10 spots in this thing. From 13 to 3. Yes. Yo, he breaks Robert Whitaker's teeth. Bro, when he squeezed Kevin Holland, did you see his eyes?

Yes. If they're like bloodshot red, what kind of squeeze does his Hamzat Chimai have? Bro. Hey, you know how they, got that little hand squeezer. Yes.

You know that thing they use it? They need to make a bigger one. I've actually been thinking about this. Daniel, you know some people. So if you want to steal my idea, give me a few bucks, whatever. So for, right for like a gut wrench or cradle or a rear naked choke, I've always thought what they could do is they could make some type of, you know how like there's a, you get a football and it's deflated, right?

And you plug a little thing in there and then you, you know, you pump it up and it gets really like hard and strong, right? you make some type of device that has its own air pump in it. Kind of like, you know those inflatable beds where you just like twist the knob and they blow up? Yeah. You know what I'm saying? Okay.

So you have a big like circular thing, right? And you just practice crushing it. Kind of like I crushed the watermelons. And then it blows back up, right? And you squeeze it again and it blows back up. That would really, that would help what you got red squeeze for real. Got red squeeze, cradle squeeze, rear naked chokes, right? All this type of squeeze because you think.

Think about, Ben, Ben, what? Let's keep this. Okay, you can make, just get the right people. Let me just, I'll finish. So like, you can do a pull-up, which works. Don't put too much of the idea. Wrong. But there's nothing where we're connecting all of the muscles at the same time.

And that was when I tell my, I tell my dudes in practice, like, you want to get going to squeeze the people, you get a hold on someone. You got to squeeze the shit out of them. Like, you try to squeeze them as hard as you can every single time you get in one of these positions. That is true. That's a great idea for wrestling. Hey, so if Chameh is a minus 200 favorite over DDP.

Oh, really? Yes. And then Jemaya is a minus 250 favorite over Sean. But Sean DDP is minus 110, minus 110, right? Can I ask you a question, though? Go ahead. Sometimes I don't stay up on the news. Are DDP and Sean, are they already on the schedule?

Are they just saying? and Sean are supposed to fight. But they're not on the schedule. No, it's not scheduled. Once Sean beat Paul O'Costa, they said he's next. But then Chameh does. I think you might skip Chameh. That's what I'm going to say.

If you have, to your point, Ben, you said you don't always feel like the best guy is holding the title. Yes. If Chameh is favorite almost three to one against Sean, he's favorite two to one against the champion. But the champion is fighting someone else. Do we really have the best guy in the division fighting for the belt?

And that's why I say, I think you skip it. I think you put Shemayev in there. Now, as impressive Shemayev did look against Robert Whitaker, and he looked awesome. You know, he's had fights where he hasn't looked quite as awesome, right? So he had... Get who? Gilbert Burns and...

Gilbert was a fight that was... And Usman. Both those fights were really competitive, where, you know, he was the better guy. but you thought, okay, you know, this could, I'm not quite as convinced. And then you watch him do what he did to Whitaker, which Whitaker alleges,

and he's had that same injury twice. That's a weird injury. Like, it's like a jawbreak, like right here. You know where he's got pushed back? So he said it's happened twice before, so maybe that bone is weak. Because, I mean, I'm sure you said it. I mean, you were actually, you were being broadcasted.

But you said, holy crap, why do you tap so fast? That was so weird. Yeah, I did. I was like, wait, what? Now I understand I have to see in that. That was what I thought. I thought, oh my God, what just happened? Like, I actually thought maybe it was like the punch before the choke.

And he tapped like fast and like a panicky tap. Panicky, so fast. Yeah. Yeah. It was like, please, please, please stop, stop. And I was like, wow, Robert Whitaker would never tap to something like that, not a neck crank. But then when you see his teeth.

So would you be okay with them just putting Jamiya in there for the better? Yes, I'd be okay. Really? I actually, I think that's probably advisable. really? So you have advice for the organization? The boss man? Yes. I do. Okay.

Yeah. So Ben, all right, guys. Hey, time for Funky's Corner. So Ben, Francis got on fought last week. And he beat in Fraterina. Yeah. Dana White has long not been a fan of Francis. Let's be honest, because he doesn't believe Francis is a good guy. There were some things that happened into the building.

of the first Miochich fight that really bothered Dana White. And he just does not like Francis. Let me read this to you. Dana White said, when asked about Francis and Ghanu and the fight last weekend, he goes,

they said, Francis Ngano will never be back in business with me. He said, I don't think about France. Francis that much. You guys ask me the question about the PFL and I respond. Other than that, the only one who's praying for his demise is probably the PFL because they signed a shitty contract with a guy that doesn't deliver any numbers.

And he tickets sales and pay-per-views. So, and they keep praying for this guy however long, good for him, not good for them. He can play those games if he wants. He would have made more money here. I didn't like Francis as a person. White said he wasn't a guy I wanted to do business with. My boys were telling me he's misunderstood, and I told him, when somebody shows you who they are, you got to believe him. It wasn't about him becoming an heavyweight champion of the world.

Francis isn't a good guy. He plays the good guy. I don't understand the language. So he seems like a nice guy. He's not. And just not a guy that I wanted to be in business with. Period. In the story, whether he became the champion or not.

Yeah. Yeah. Well, I knew you're going to lead me into this. So I will just go ahead. is, I mean, I obviously had the same experience with Dana. And, you know, I mostly think Dana does a great job. Obviously, as a businessman, strictly judging that, he does an amazing job. I think he showed a lot of courage when he brought the UFC back for all of the professional sports.

For example, I respect that a lot. I love that he's stuck up for his friend Donald Trump when everyone wanted to crap on him. So there's a lot of things that are very respectable about Dana's personality. But in my own experience, and actually, we were at the meeting together in 2013, it was It was the Monday after Jones fought Gustavson. And as you know, you can vouch me. I wasn't offered a contract. I went in there.

I pretty much said, listen, guys, I want to be done with Bellator. I want to prove them the best in the world. And I want to fight them. And that's it. That's all I want to do. And I was not offered a contract.

To which point then Dana spent years lying saying, I didn't want to fight the best. I didn't want challenges. I was running away. And like, that couldn't have been further from the truth. And so it sucked to have this guy like essentially, it is essentially slander.

wasn't going to do a lawsuit or anything, but saying things about me that I knew weren't true. And Dana has this part of the personality when he can't get what he wants. And like in that case, he didn't offer me a contract. So he kind of got what he wanted. But then I think because I was continuing to have success and people were continuing to follow me, he didn't, he wanted me off in a dark corner where everyone ignored me or something. I don't know. But you know, he's done the same thing with Cyborg.

I believe Randy Couture had a similar experience. Obviously now Francis. If I thought really hard, I could probably think of some. other ones, but there's this weird part of Dan's personality where if he doesn't get exactly what he wants, he just starts crapping on people. And because he has a big microphone and because he is generally very truthful and generally he's correct. So people just believe him. And so I had to deal with many years of Dan telling lies about me that were just really harmful to me that he had no reason or basis for doing. I wanted to fight the best in 2013. And then

therefore, you know, at any time forward. And, you know, so then he got me in 2019 when I was, you know, I probably should have had a hip replacement prior to that. But it was like, hey, this is my opportunity. I'm going to take it. I don't care if I'm not, I'm not optimized where I should be. Like, I get an opportunity. I take an opportunity and I'm not going to complain about it.

But yeah, I would have loved to have that in 2013. How about now? Do you see Dana when you see Dana? Like, how are you guys now? I don't see Dana ever. You've never seen them since you finished fighting? No. I haven't seen Dana since I finished fighting.

I mean, I just, I mean, I'm not in that world anymore. Like, I don't really train very many fighters, if any. I do this with you, but I don't do too much more. I've kind of like said, I just do my own thing. I coach wrestling. I enjoy coaching wrestling. I tweet a little bit. I wrote a couple books, I guess.

Hey, buy extreme balance. You know, so I do a few things. But no, I'm kind of out of that world a little bit. And I observe it and I watch it and I enjoy it. So doing this, like this gives you like PTSD? D? No, not like I'm totally okay with what happened. You watch it.

I'm not talking about, I'm not talking about you losing. I'm talking about like, it's a world that you somehow broke away from. Like, do you really want to be involved in? It is the question. I like coaching more wrestling more than I like coaching fighting.

If the right fighter came around and said, hey, would you, would you help me? I think I would really. I think you would do a tremendous job as a coach. I think I really enjoyed that. I think you should coach MMA fighters.

If someone, came to me and said, hey, Ben, I want you to train me. I think I would probably, I would take that on. But, you know, it's one of those things where it's like when you live your life, you live it moving forward. And it's like, I can't go back to 2013 and have a redo. I will tell you, uh, I do get jealous a little bit. Like say what to Chima, I was like, fuck, I could have done that in 2013 to people, you know, and I didn't get the opportunity to do and Dana stole that from me. But you got to say like, hey, man, that, you know, that's how life works sometimes. Sometimes you don't give what you want. I have moved on. I have a pretty fucking great life. So I'm good with it. But let's not not,

let's not acknowledge that part of Dana's personality that's a really big negative. And I don't know why he's like that. And it doesn't really make sense, given the stature and the power that he has for him to throw little fits when he doesn't get exactly what he wants. I'm going to ask him about it next time I see him. I'll be like, hey, Ben was asking about this part of this. I'll ask him. And I'll tell you. And I think even as, as much as he probably respects you, this weird part of his personality, he probably will not give you a straight answer. He'll probably give you some type of bullshit answer

because you know this, you know me in 2013, I would have been more than happy to sign a contract in which I was paid less than a fair wage to have the ability to prove that I was best in the world. That's what I wanted to do. I didn't get that opportunity to do that. And you know me and you know I would have done that.

Yeah, you follow you out for sure. Like, I don't know what he's going to tell you about. I remember us walking in there together. Yeah. I remember us walking in there together. Yeah. So I don't know what I don't know what I tell you. I actually walked out of there too and said, okay, we couldn't really come to an agreement.

And I was like, well, I'll just fight. And then we'll see what I'm, what I'm. We had the same kind of attitude, right? Like just pay me whatever. I'll fight and beat these guys. Yeah. And then we'll figure it out. Yeah.

And honestly, that was kind of my thing is like I'll take, I will take a shitty paycheck to to get in the door because I had that much faith to myself that I'm going to go do what I need to do and that I will achieve it. And listen, if I can't achieve it, maybe I don't deserve it. Like, that was kind of how I thought about it. That's life. That's life. Hey, real quick, Dana wants Tony Ferguson to retire.

I think we're all in agreement there yet. That's fair. I think we're all in agreement there. Like, Tony needs to be done. Yes. Yeah. And that's where- Did he not get cut?

Did he not get cut after that last fight? I don't believe. I think Dana doesn't want to cut him because Dana knows that he actually still has a big name and could command money. No, I think that if he cuts him, he just knows. He'll go fight somewhere else for sure. Yes. That's why I think he doesn't cut him.

I think he doesn't cut him because I think he knows he's going to keep going to fight for less money and organizations where at least... It's a big deal to them. It'll be a big deal to have Tony Ferguson for that. No, yes, that too. But it also is like in the UFC, you can almost protect them with certain matchups.

Like Michael Kiesa's fight, that wasn't that dangerous some matchup, fighting Michael Kiesin. What's you going to do, submit you? Yeah. You go fight in those Russian organizations and they put him in there with a 22-year-old killer and he can get really hurt.

That's why I think they don't cut him. I think they don't cut him because if you cut him, he's still going to go fight. I just don't know where. All right, Ben. But that's whole, I mean, but on that thought,

it's like, hey, Dana can't get what he wants. And this one, he's probably right. Tony probably should retire to move on. But we are all human beings with our own freedom. And so he should allow Tony have the freedom to do what he wants. Well, Tony wants to stay in the UFC. He doesn't want to go anywhere. But this is where Dating, in this case, you could say,

unfortunately, you've lost eight in a row. You're just not competitive enough to be here. Sorry, I love you. You're cut. You know, I think you should stop fighting, but you're a man. You can do what a man wants to do. He said I'm too.

Tony said he's too old to retire. All right. Guys, that's another episode of Funkin' the champ. For Ben Asking, I'm Daniel Cormi. We'll catch you guys on the next one. Peace. Peace. Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comedy guy, not quite.

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