The Herd with Colin Cowherd - The Favorites - UFC Betting with Chris Weidman

Episode Date: July 22, 2022

It's not everyday we're joined by a four-time champion, but today we're lucky enough to welcome "The All-American" Chris Weidman, former UFC middleweight titleholder. Action Network hosts Chad Millman and Simon Hunter, along with UFC betting expert Sean Zerillo, hit Chris with questions about his comeback status from a devastating leg break last year, his abilities as a MMA bettor, his acting career on "Kevin Can Wait" and so much more. Plus, Chad is once again forced to confront the greatness of Nassau County, this time via an athlete's superior resting heart rate. #HerdSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and Friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter.

Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. The Favorites podcast is presented by Fandual Sportsbook. There's no better place to make every moment more than with Fandual. I love betting with Fandul because they've got great odds and markets for MLB, PGA Tour, tennis, NFL futures, and more. Plus, their app is safe, easy to use, and when I win, I get paid out fast. If you're new, just download the Fandul Sportsbook app to get started now and sign up with promo code favorites so they know I sent you. you must be 21 and over and present in select states only.

Gambling problem. Call 1-800 next step or text. Next step to 533442 in Arizona. Call 1-800 gambler or visit fanduel.com slash RG in Colorado, Iowa, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Illinois, and Virginia. 1-888-8-9-77-77 or visit ccpg.org slash chat in Connecticut. 1-8009 with it in Indiana. 1.8777-7-7-0 stop in Louisiana. 1-877-Hope-N-Y or text,

Hope, NY, 467-369 in New York. Tennessee Redline is 1-800-8-8-9-9-9-8-8-8-9-7-8-9, 1-800-2-2-4-7-0 in Wyoming, or visit 1-800 gambler.net in West Virginia. Welcome to the favorites, the podcast from the Volume Podcast Network. I'm Chad Milman, Chief Content Officer of the Action. Network. This is a massive, massive show today. Simon Hunter, my BFF, my companion, my co-host, professional better. It's rare. We get actual real life champions on the podcast. It's true, especially with my ego, we usually don't have on other famous people because I can't handle it.

My good friend, Sean Zerillo, who gave me Kyle Schwarber at 50 to 1 and 35-1 to lead to MLB in home runs. It's like a $250 bet to win $9K on Schwarber. Feeling pretty good. So, Sean, God, am I happy to see you. Thank you for everything. Hold on. Simon, can I at least introduce all of our guests? First, Sean Zorillo, who is a longtime writer at the Action Network covering baseball, which Simon is referencing, also MMA, also everything else to do with combat, also horse racing. Sean is on today because our guest is former UFC champion Chris Wyden who's calling in from South Carolina, even though he is a Long Islander at heart, born and raised, former New York State Collegiate Wrestling Champion, a two-time junior college All-American, two-time NCAA D-1 All-American at Hofstra,

professional fighter, most famous for being a four-time UFC Middle East. weight. Champion pays me to say the pride of Nassau County, Long Island, Chris Weidman. Wow. I'm impressed. Forget Bruce Buffer. I think Chad Millman is where it's at. Pretty good, right? You need to get in the Othagons, start introducing guys. He is good. I have a long history of shining up UFC champions as I am the author of Chuck Liddell's autobiography. True. Oh, wow. I actually think I I may have read that book. And I haven't read that many books in my life.

So that's... For those people who had the over under on me mentioning my book before I actually asked Chris a question at like two and a half minutes. And you had the under. Matt Mitchell. Congratulations. Chad Milman wrote a book. Oh my God.

Can we get some action on that? There's always action on something. I will say that Chris, welcome to the show. Right off the bat. The UFC used to give new champions. a new belt every time they defended it, but switched to adding a ruby on the same belt after each title defense.

Do you have four belts or one belt with four rubies? So interesting story. So when I was champion, at that time, unless you had it written into your contract, you only get the belt when you win your championship for the first time. And then every defense afterwards, they give you a fake belt. They give you a belt in the octagon, and then they take it back afterwards.

So I defended my belt three times. So I won the belt. So I had my original belt. And then my last title defense, the third time, I was backstage. I was taking pitches with the belt that they were letting me borrow, basically. And then I was going to have to give it back. And I was like, you know what? I feel like I'm the man.

I deserve more belts. I heard that at that time, it was very rare. But I think Kane Velasquez got to keep every belt that he won. And I'm like, you know what? I'm keeping this thing. So next day I know the UFC sent some, you know, PR girl backstage and was asking me for the belt. I'm like, no, Dana said I could keep this one. And she's like, he did?

I'm like, yeah, yeah. I'm like, and then next day I know it, I was gone, I had the belt. And then like Dana, like, sent me like some laughing emojis or something. And he let me keep the belt. So I have two belts. I should have four belts, four belts, but I have two. Well, in theory, in reality, you should have one belt, but you stole a belt. And Dana said, Dana laughed and was like, that's the kind of attitude.

I love, there's no way I'm taking the belt back. If, yeah, if you went by the contract, I'm only supposed to get down belt. But at the end of the day, I'm pretty sure everybody now gets to have a new belt every time. So, yeah, and I don't have the gems. As you can see, one of them is back here. That is the traditional one. Yeah. And that's, you know, the other one is up there.

Those belts don't have the gems. Don't have like your, you know, the country that you're fighting for and, you know, cool little things that you want to throw in there, like a high school, you know, like you get a high school ring. get to put your football number and, you know, you know, you fit your Gemini, if you're a Gemini, you have a certain, you know, color, earthstone. You get all those options now. It's kind of weird. The older belts, it was just they handed you it and that was it. When you get to become a UFC champion, this is a serious question. I don't mean it in a joking way. How much more confidence does that give you as a human being? You know, you were wrestling and you had a pretty

meteoric rise to becoming a champion in the UFC. You're obviously a good athlete. obviously confident in your abilities. But when the name, the word champion is prescribed to you, how much does it change your confidence level? It's pretty nice to know without any argument that you are the world champion, that you are the toughest guy in the world at that weight class. Of course, I thought I was, you know, pound for pound the toughest. It just feels nice to have, you know, other people recognizing what you already knew. My big thing is like, you know, I want to win fights. So when I go down to, you know, the car dealership and I'm trying to get something fixed on my car,

the mechanic doesn't give me any attitude. Like, bro, have some respect because I'll beat your ass. But at the end of the day, if they don't know who you are, I still get treated like crap. I hate it. I'm not scary enough looking. Like, there's some UFC champs out there that have the ears. I have this kid that I'm training now. His name's Tom Lane.

He's one and no pro. He's got a second professional fight coming up. Listen, I love him, but I throw him around like a rag doll. But he's got these big, scary looking ears. And he gets just everyone scared of him. And I hate that. Everyone thinks I'm just like this random business guy. That's kind of the look I think I give off.

And I wish I look tougher. You could shave your head and tattoo your skull like Waddell. And then you'll always be recognizable and nobody's going to fuck with you. Yeah, I might have to go that way. Your problem is you're like a really good looking Norm McDonald. I don't know how you're going to get away from him, man. Oh, my gosh. I appreciate that, man.

Thanks for giving me the one up on Norm McDonald, by the way. He's a decent looking guy. Yeah, he killed it back of me. 80s and 90s. What I know is that you mentioned sort of fighting with guys and like, you grew up as a wrestler and that's your expertise, you know, technically sound, grappling, all that kind of stuff. When UFC first started outside of the Brazilians, this was a sport that was a place where people who just like to throw down could find a way to make a little money. You know, Chuck Liddell, he just liked to fight. Like he was a good wrestler and he was a good football player, but mostly he

just like to get in fights. It's like that was his athletic enjoyment. He used to do it in bars and alleys, right? But did you like fighting when you started doing this? Or was it just a way to maintain your ability to perform as a wrestler? And this was the next thing that was the opportunity. I'm going to say it was a mesh of both those things. I was training for the 2008 Olympics. I got injured before the trials. And then, you know, if you're going to stay on and try the 2012 Olympics, you try the world teams in between. I was making $12,000 as a coach at at Hofstra University and training, and it wasn't the best living. Or another option is, you know, this MMA that was going on.

He sold these wrestlers doing really good with it. And at the same time, I'm from a small town called Baldwin in New York, and a lot of people that grew up with me, you know, I had a tougher, older brother who make me fight his friends all the time. And the people that grew up around me, they always knew I was tough and they always knew, you know, I wasn't scared to fight. Like if someone was going to, you know, try to pick on me, I was going to fight back. and you were going to have to kill me.

And when I started having, you know, creating these accolades for myself with wrestling, and people started watching MMA, they're like, you know, Chris, you need to do this. This is like perfect for you, the way you grew up. And plus, you know, you're wrestling, you crush it. And so when you have enough people telling you that and, you know, it kind of helps give some positive reinforcement on me talking to my wife and letting her know, hey, I'm going to become a pro fighter now. That's always the conversation.

It's like, how can I convince the person I'm married? to that I'm going to take a shot on this thing that, you know, is a little bit of a gamble. Oh my God, a huge gamble, especially at that time. There was really nobody making real, real money, you know, and if there were, it was very, you know, very select few people in the whole world. But, you know, I really believed in myself. I had a coach very long ago. I walked into the gym.

You know, after a bunch of workouts with him, he just had so much faith in me. And that helped me, you know, really believe in myself and thought I had a chance at this. And again, of course, it's about going home and experience. explain this to your wife and having her, you know, be on the same page, which that was tough, you know, because, you know, for at least two years, you're not making any money, you know, so you're going to go from making, you know, I was making $12,000 a year at Hofstra to making no money and, you know, really no guarantee of anything. Meanwhile, she's, you know, getting her accounting degree and getting a job at Price Warehouse,

Cooper and I'm going to like Christmas parties and I'm being introduced as her husband and I'm a professional fighter with like one fight, uh, with not much of a future. People forget it wasn't on ESPN. It was on fuel TV when I first started in the UFC before that. I mean, I guess Spike, it started on Spike. It was a very small sport. It wasn't, it didn't cross over. It was illegal in my home state. You know, I had the fight in New Jersey on my fights to come up. And, uh, it was not looked at as a thing that most, you know, people would want to do. She eventually supported me. I remember she made a deal of me. Like if you ever come home with a black eye, that's it. And we're done. Yeah, so I made sure I didn't come home with a black guy.

And I actually remember in my first professional fight, I wanted everyone, all my family and everybody that knew me to think it's just like wrestling. I didn't want to like hurt the guy or bloody him up. I wanted them to just think that this is just a sport. It's not crazy. It's not brutal. You know, so I did, I just took the guy down really fast and I, and I armlocked them like with a camora and messed up his shoulder a little bit.

But it was very clean. Eventually, my family realized this is a tough sport. Your wife is like, I married the best. looking version of Norm McDonald from Baldwin, Long Island. If you come home messed up, I am going to be so pissed. Oh, my God. I look like Norm McDonald like crazy right now. I just buzzed my face down, I think, and I'm a little puffy in the cheeks. I don't know. I don't know what's going on. It's a lighting, but I agree with you. I do look like Norman McDonald right now. This is weird. I can't get over this. So obviously, I'm not the biggest UFC.

I'll be up front with you. I gamble on it. But you know what out is. It's just like, it's usually you're out drinking. I was out when I was in Vegas. So it is crazy to think that. your first UFC fight was in 2011, and then you became a superstar in July 2013. Obviously, you were a dog of plus 200 against Silva, which is crazy to think. Again, this is all coming back to me. I had a copious amount of money on Silva at this time for this fight against you. No, you didn't stop it. Dude, I loved him.

Like, the spider, I go way back with him just because I used to really into Brazilian jihitsu. So I was obsessed with him. The whole thing about him, like the silent killer, his technique. everything about him was cool as shit. Yeah. I know you're the guy. He's talking shit through you were mocking you. You knock them out in the second round.

You get your own holiday in Nassau County. Your own holiday is July 17th. It's about to be the ninth anniversary. What do you have planned? Like, do you have anything special you doing that day or anything going on? Does the Action Network need to make this an official holiday? Well, they definitely do. Chris Wybond Dave is coming up, but let's go back a second here.

So you put money on Annis and Sylvo. Big money. What is wrong with you? Big money. I was listening to the pro I work with. He was just like, but you know what's crazy. A little white kid coming in.

You're getting really good short odds and Silva. Silva's going to knock him out. So that was the closest odds Anderson Silver era had in the UFC at that point. And what brought the odds down to be that close for a guy who had never lost in the UFC and never even looked like he had a chance of losing was because a lot of the MMA guys I would train with like,

so George St. Pierre, who was, you know, one of the other goats at the time that people really believed in every word that would come out of his mouth, him along with a lot of other pro fighters that had trained with me were like this is the guy who's beating in his soba and then after these interviews came out people started realizing oh no Wyman's different because they see he had weaknesses with wrestling and then with my accolades and jujitsu on top of it people started putting it together just matchup wise it was going to be it was it was a tough one for him did you bet on yourself well I did in some ways because that was the last

fight of my contract I was making 24,000 dollars to show 24,000 dollars to win to fight the greatest of all time in my non-professional fight, which is not a lot of money. But they tried to renegotiate with me right before that fight. And I said, no, I was like, no, I'm good because I knew after talking to a couple of the guys that had done well and became champions is that the way to make real money in the UFC is to become champion. That's how you get a percentage of pay of views and all that. So I just bet on myself. So I made 24 to show, 24 to win, and then they paid me a whole lot more to have me sign a new contract afterwards. So I did bet on myself, probably more than anybody else. And then July 17th, Chris Wybond Day.

I just tell everybody, you know, drink responsibly and have a good time. And it's like another 4th of July. This baseball season turned K's into cash and big hits into big wins with Fanduil Sportsbook. Right now, new customers can step up to the plate with a no sweat first bet up to $1,000. Just sign up, place your first bet. And Fando will give you up to $1,000 back and free bets if you don't win. Tonight, my no sweat first bet, would be the Philadelphia Phillies. I love betting a Fandu because they've got great promos every

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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 game. 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. We haven't asked you how you're feeling, how your leg is progressing. How's your rehab going? He closes a slight plus 105, betting underdog. Oh, my God. Right below the knee. So it's going well. It's not as good as I would have liked it to be.

You know, I thought, you know, one surgery and I'd be good. But it's been multiple surgeries now. And just to put it out there. So ESPN's doing this big documentary on me. It's an E60. It's the same people that did Alex Smith's documentary. And they have the rights to my story. So all the ups and downs, everything I've been through with this layoff is,

it's been pretty extent. and there's been a lot of, a lot of crap. But they have the rights to tell a story. I trust them to do a good job with it. So I can't say too much. All I can say is I am coming back. I'm going to come back. This is the last chapter in my book as an MMA fighter for sure is my comeback.

And what I'm going to do with it. And I'm super excited about it, you know, the opportunity to inspire, you know, millions of people, especially after what they've seen me go through from the ups to the downs to what's going on with my leg, you know, breaking that, you know, the compound fracture having the bones go through. the skin, everything like that on worldwide television. So for me to come back and come back in a big way, I think is going to be super inspiring and a cool story. Excited about it.

I can't tell you guys as much. You guys are you going to have to watch the documentary, which is probably going to come out about two or three weeks before I fight. I plan on fighting towards the end of the year, this year. Well, listen, you're in good hands. The East 60 folks having done many, many projects with them are amazing. So we'll all look forward to it. I like that Simon brought up, you were a plus 200 dog against Anderson Silva.

He bet on Silva because MMA and UFC specifically for as long as I'm doing betting coverage, which is a long time now, both at ESPN and here, was always one of those things that got a ton of professional action. But a lot of times it was almost always on the favorites because the favorites were almost always winning. There just weren't that many upsets. And so now as sort of the sport has become more popular, I want to ask Cyrillo, when you're thinking about MMA betting, your write-ups are amazing the way you handicap the cards for UFC fights. What does it like to handicap the fight now versus say when Chris was first coming up and first won

his title in 2013? Well, there's so many more fights. I mean, you don't just have UFC fights. You have Bellator almost every weekend, PFL. LFA, there's all these organizations that are now having odds available and it's widely available where you still almost have to call your way to find where odds were available just for the one UFC card a month that was popping up. And then on top of that, you have 12 to 15 fights a card. You could bet every fighter money line total like you could for any sport, but you also could bet

props, fight to go to a decision or to end by a finish, either fighter to win by decision, knockout submission. And then on top of that, to win in specific rounds, to win by specific method in specific rounds. There's literally 100, 200 ways to bet on each individual of the 12 to 15 fights on every card, multiply that by two or three cards across different organizations each weekend. So for Chris, one thing I really focus on and try to focus on is particularly with live betting, because I think you could find a big advantage with live betting, is stamina and cardio, fighters who typically finish early in their fights.

I'm thinking particularly, guy you obviously know, Marab de Boschvili, fought Marlon Marius a few months ago. Marab going into that fight, very obvious cardio advantage. Marlin tends to gas out after five to seven minutes. He's a first round finisher. So when I handicap a fight like that, I'm going into the fight, not really is interested in the Marab side of the money line. If I'm going to bet something pre-fight, it's probably going to be the early first round finisher to win in round one or his money line pre-fight. And then I'm going to look to roll that into a live bet on the guy, I think, has the cardio advantage after round one. Now, it's to be a little difficult handicapped cardio. Obviously, you can improve your cardio over time, but some guys really can't. So I'm curious from the inside of a

fighter's mind, what do you think the general public kind of overvalues or undervalues? Because it's difficult for us to gauge what a game plan might be, right? Whether you as a wrestler are going to look to drag somebody to deep waters and tire them out. And maybe I want to bet you're round three props because I know you're planning on tire a guy out late. And then on top of that, you know, knowing how I'm sure you've noticed how scoring has sort of changed recently, how judges are emphasizing damage over control, you know, it may not have been as friendly to you trying to wrestle guys and hold on to them

or just gain top position for I never, I've never, I've never only just wrestle guys and held top position. No, no, but what I'm saying is, I'm a finisher, kid. You know, just, you know, how you might go about handicapping a fight differently, as you sort of see the way judges, you know, approach it differently too. You know, the cliche saying is you can never leave it

in the hands of the judges, which it's obviously easier set than done. But that is obviously always the goal what the coaches want to tell their students. But things have changed a lot over the years. Like betting on fights was way easier back when I was up and coming. There was way less people that knew what they were talking about. Now we got guys like you who really know what they're doing or just educated on the sport. They understand, you know, you're watching PFL, you're watching LFA.

These are things that really weren't happening, you know, a few years back. It's just crazy how us going mainstream, you know, coming over to ESPN, just one of the things that it has done for it. I'm with you. Cardio is king. You watch somebody to fight like Marab. Marab, it's not just that his cardio is outstanding. It's his mentality. So when you see a guy who's known for their cardio, they usually also bring a different mental mindset that usually should make them a favorite. I think having a guy that you know is not going to get tired is the worst thing you could know going into a fight. If you're fighting somebody and you know that no matter what you do to them. They're going to still be going. That's a freaking nightmare. I'm with you on that.

If you could find guys who have good cardio, you want to go with them. Other thing, wrestlers. I think wrestlers are the highest percentage chance of winning. The ability to dictate where the fight goes, you know, if you're uncomfortable on the feet, you could dictate it and bring it to the ground. If you're comfortable on the feet, you keep it standing. So I think having that available and then also wrestling gives a mindset just from wrestling since you're a little kid, you know, being screamed that by coaches. They're not making money off of you. They're going to, tell you to get the hell out of the room if you're not working hard, as opposed to every other martial art.

You know, you go to a karate school, you go to a kickboxing school, you go to Brazilian jiu-jitsu. If you're not working hard, you're staying because you're paying. It's a little different than, you know, you go into, you know, the high school wrestling room. The kids are going to get screamed at. They're out. You just get out of here.

You're wasting my time. Obviously, I'm biased, but I just think it's factual statistically at this point. Wrestlers win. Most of the champions of wrestlers, most of guys, if you've got a, you know, a fight where it's kind of even on the odds, I would always tilt it towards a wrestler. And usually it means they're mentally stronger and probably have better cardio for the most part. But cardio and wrestling are the two things that I would probably focus on when betting. It's easier to look as like a big favorite in hindsight if you're the superior grappler than it is if it's just going to be a straight up striking match on the feet.

You know, the margins in the grappling tend to be a bit wider than in terms of just a straight up striking match. Yeah, because there's a chance they, you know, take you down and just hold on to you. You know, and then there's a chance they take you down and submit you. So, or they could also knock you out. There's just more ways to win. It's amazing how what wrestling does to the cardio. A striker starts getting taken down all of a sudden they don't have power anymore. So there goes that knockout win.

So if you had an under thinking that the, you know, the guy was going to get a knockout and he got taken down a few times, those live odds are definitely going to change. Do you bet a lot of MMA, UFC and the fights that you're watching? Not as much as I used to. I used to do it way more. It's a tough game, man. And it's really hard to predict, even if I've inside info. You know, I remember there was this time.

I knew one of these guys that I trained with just a little bit. He had a terrible injury of the whole camp. He did nothing. He did nothing. He was even confident he was going to win. So I'm like, all right, listen, I'm going to throw some money. No disrespect. I'm going to throw some money on this other guy, makes some money.

And next thing, no, the guy who was injured the whole time goes out there and gets a first round knockout. Just, you know, throws caution to the win, the connects, and boom, there goes my money. So it's just a very tough sport to gauge. You know, even if you have inside info, you have to just bet consistently. You know, if you're going for just one bet, it's a big risk. Like, it seems like Sean is, you know, pretty consistent handicapper. He's playing the percentages.

He's going to take his lumps, you know, but you just got to stick with those percentages on, you know, what you believe. Sean has made more than 6,600 bets on baseball alone since 2018. Jeez, bro. Like Chris said, you're trying to grind out that percentage. So I know every time I'm putting $100 down, I'm getting between 103 and 104 back. on average. So one bet, you know, I may lose, may lose an excruciating fashion, but over time, you're just trying to grind out that 3%. Are you usually like a small favorite guy? Is that where you're going for? Like the tiny favorites and just take money line? It depends on the fight, the dynamics of the

fight. You know, if I expect a fight to go to a decision and I also show value on one fighter's money line, typically, I'm going to end up betting on their prop to win by decision because you just get that juicier plus money. But a lot of the times, especially now with judging being so wonky, I may just eat the juice and bet the fight to go to a decision instead of betting the plus money on the fighter to win by decision just to kind of save myself some out. Do you usually, do you always watch the fights when you're when you're betting? I do. And, you know, betting those fights. You have to bet the things that nobody wants to watch, right?

Nobody wants to sit there and root for 15 minutes for nothing to happen. But that is where you're going to find the most profit typically betting on bets is walking around the house hoping nobody dies for 15 minutes or nobody gets submitted for 15 minutes. It's the most uncomfortable thing you could bet in sports probably. It's like watching hockey overtime hoping nobody scores. But yeah, it could be a bit excruciating, but you definitely have to find the things to bet that nobody else wants to. Another thing just because we're, you know, sticking with the MMA betting. One thing that I know is that you could,

there's some good value in when betting on fights is a lot of times the bigger name guy is not always the best guy and the most, the guy who's most likely to win. And a lot of times you'll see them as a betting favorite over a guy who, really should be the favorite, but just because this guy has a bigger name, you know, he's getting all the, he's getting all the juice. So I always, I think that's, there's always value in when you see that. And usually like one on each fight card, there might be one fight like that, where the odds are a little off and there's some, there's some definitely money to be made. Yeah, I would say a lot of

the guys I know, like the pros that do UFC, their favorite thing is betting against the champ. Like the champ, it takes, it's a grind to get it up there. What do you do once you're there, right? Like, a lot of these guys, they might lose their edge. Like they might start partying. They might not start training three months early. Maybe they only start two months early. And you talk about all the time, that little bit of difference, that's what pros are looking for. Like they're looking for that info about a guy. Maybe he's out too late. Maybe he's not taking it as serious or he's going to think he's

going to walk over his next opponent. So again, the Connor McGregor, I think we all can agree. He was never as great as he was portrayed. He kind of did that himself, though, with his mouth. And people love Betnam. Like he had that whole Irish movement, even Americans that are Irish, like half Irish or, you know, their ancestor are Irish. 100%. They were all about it. Everyone went straight Ireland. That was it.

Everybody was Irish. Right. Like, and the whole thing, too, of, like, him running around the Irish flag and people following him. Like, you would see some stupid video of him posted how he's feeling online. And it's odd to move, like, another minus 20. And it's like, okay, someone just put another six-figure bet on Connor. So that was one of the things where I did take lessons and learning, like, the hard way, too.

Because, again, I like betting favorites to MMA. Like I felt safe for betting these favorites just because of the proven track record where I've learned some of these champs, man, they get up there. They get the money and they don't grind like they used to before. So, Chris, I'm interested to hear your view about how you got into betting because that's kind of cool, man. You're doing the MMA because like you said, you have the inside info. And, you know, me and Sean, we talk about all the time. We die for this info. Like, we love inside info.

You've been burned plenty of times. Like, when you started to get into it, did you start winning early on? or were you like one of those guys where it's like, you were losing a little bit and you were thinking yourself, you know what, I can grind this out. I can get better at betting as I go along here. I was pretty good. I'm not saying I was the best of all time,

but I did good. I made a lot of money. I lost money too, but I was definitely up when I was doing it pretty frequently. It's a tough game. It's a grind, but when you actually sit down and you look at the fight cards and you go through each guy and you look at their styles,

maybe watch some older videos, and you do it the right way, you take notes, it's funny how like, you know, a little bit of that extra work pays off, you know, as opposed to just opening up your app as the fights were about to turn on and just like, I don't never heard of this guy, I'm going to go with the other guy and, you know,

just kind of take guesses based on the odds. And you might do all right. You might hit some cards. You might, you know, when, all right here and there. But I think, you know, for longevity purposes, sitting down and actually doing your homework and really believing in the picks that you're making

is important. And for me, like, understanding the fight game, knowing guys styles, you know, seeing knowing guys, you know, what may be going through in camp, watching guys fight week, you know, from their interviews to their weight cuts and their press conferences, all these things. There's small little things that you could see inside each one of those that, you know, might swing the odds a little bit in your mind. And I saw here, you were a Jets fan? Is that still true today? Or have you switched to the Carolina Panthers now that you move down south. No, so I was never like a big Jets fan.

I'm more of a New York fan. You know, like whoever was doing good in New York, I'd start, you know, rooting for them, you know, Curtis Martin when he was on the Jets. Okay, I was a Jets guy. But, you know, 2012, you know, all right, I'm a Giants fan. They're making the playoffs. I'm with them. You picked a good time to leave New York because I don't think they've been relevant

any football team in New York since that 2020. It's not looking good over there. Yeah. So now I'm near the, you know, now I'm in by Charlotte, you know, I went to a couple of Panthers games. I'm excited for what they're looking like this year coming up, man. Baker Mayfield and, you know, Christian McCaffrey, getting some offensive linemen.

Would you take their over? It's at six and a half. I would definitely take that over. You and Chad. A couple of suckers, couple of lemons. Did you guys throw that in already? Listen, I'm not doing it as a sucker bet. That's a legit line is six and a half.

Six and a half game wins for next year. That's a fair number for Carolina in a weak division. And I feel like seven wins for Carolina. their defense will get better just by the virtue of having Baker on the field because they will not be on the field as much, which levels out their stats, which puts them in a next higher tier. Zerillo is looking at me like I've got four heads right now.

It's a pro better, dude. My whole life's negative. Like, I'm just a negative guy. Like I'm on the under, on the under on the dog. That's how I make my money betting NFL unders and dogs. How about you, Sean? I am a jazz fan, Chris, and I'm very disappointed to hear your answer.

which is an answer that my dad or my uncles would give about just being a New York fan and switching allegiances. Because I know you're also an Islanders fan and I would hope that you weren't rooting for the Rangers. I would not. That's different. I swear I would never root for the Rangers ever. We're good now.

We're good again. I don't care who they're playing. They are the team I want to lose. I always had an issue with anybody in like elementary school growing up and they were a Long Island guy and they were fans of the Rangers. I'm like, what are you doing? We have one team. Are you freaking joking me?

And so that would piss me off. I would never go that way. I'm an eye on the guy. Can we go back to, I have two questions. One is about cardio. One is about quotes. Can you tell me your resting heart rate? So resting heart rate right now is like 56.

You know, like I said, I'm focused more on strength and physical therapy right now. So cardio is not really king right now. But during my training camps, I've had it in the 30s, which is pretty great. No. Yeah, yeah. When I'm going hard, hard, diet's on point. getting the right sleep because I wear the whoop band,

you know, not to just plug, you know, I'm plugging whoop. It's great. I wear this thing all the time. I wear it throughout my sleep. So I get my resting heart rate every night.

It's amazing. You know, I know when I'm getting sick. I know when I'm, you know, not recovered enough. The 30s, 30s.

What are you doing to get into the 30s? Killing myself, absolutely killing myself. Every single workout, getting to the point where I feel like I'm going to die and then continuing. And doing that multiple times a day.

I'll say, I'm overweight. I smoke weed constantly. My resting heart rate's 38. So who knows how these things work. You're a freak. Yeah. I used to be an athlete many moons ago.

Maybe that helps. Oh, that's what I did, man. You have a resting heart rate. Yours is 38 because you're barely human and probably don't have a heart. Wait, hang on a second. We're not kidding. You have a 38 resting heart rate? I swear, brother.

Yeah. Shout out to Apple. If you want to sponsor the number one gambling podcast in the world, Apple Watch, send me more free shit. Hang on a second. And this is, this is dirty. I don't want to take down Apple, but it's, are you sure that's doing it right? I need to see on your phone right now,

your resting heart rate. If it's, if it's not in the 50s, right now, it's not going to be good right now because I got COVID. I'll pull it up though. Now you get the COVID? Yeah,

no, I got just, afterwards, we'll never see it at 38 again. You're going to have long COVID. Can I just say that my resting heart right is 44? I'm just going to say it. Are you like,

yeah. I'm hyped up though. You guys are freaks. All right, I believe you. If you're in 54 right now, And you have COVID. So it doesn't help.

And you're definitely sweating. That's, you got a good heart, bro. Here's my next question. Or you're dying. I don't know. It's very possible. Not good. The other question is you just mentioned something really interesting because I know Zerrillo,

Simon, both, when any of us are doing our handicapping for something, we don't discount what coaches say, what players say, what kind of signals they're giving to the market during a press conference or how they're answering a question. and you just said something, you will see the way fighters are responding to comments. Do you think as a fighter yourself that strategically about what you're going to say in the run up to a fight, in pre-fight interviews, press conferences, things like that? Do you do, does the fighter like consciously prepare to know what to say? Do you?

Because you just said you can see what fighters are saying and get a sense for how training is going or things like that. So take me inside how the prep goes just for that part of it. I mean, you know what to, you know what to say as far as the basics, but you also know when someone's being genuine or not for the most part, you know, and, you know, guys could say, oh, I had the best fight camp of my of my career or they could say it in a way they really mean it. And I think it's kind of reading in between the lines. It's not really like the words that they're saying. It's the way they look and the way they're saying it, I think, you know, you know, I got my bachelor's degree in psychology from Hashi University, School of Greatness. So there's things that I

could do that maybe some of you guys aren't educated enough to do, like read people's, you know, body language. Well, genius, read our body language. Simon is barely alive. You guys are all dying. Yeah, or we're in incredible shape, incredible shape. Here's another question for you. So you were once on a sitcom. I believe you played Adam Sandler's Nassau County police partner on four episodes of Kevin James, Kevin Can Wait. And the critiques were that you looked like you belonged in a network show and not just because you're a handsome version of Norm MacDonald, RIP. Would you have traded one of your middleweight titles to star in your own sitcom?

It's a lot of work. But yeah, I think I give up one of them. I give up my Vitor Belfort defense as long as we could get the syndication, guarantee. and to get those residuals over like the rest of your life, like Kevin James has from King of Queens, then you're good for the rest of your life pretty much. And I wanted it to be the same character I was on the Kevin Kewit show. I was Adam Sandler's partner.

Kevin James was Adam Sandler's, used to be Adam Sample's partner. And Kevin retired, and I was the new guy who was better at everything. Everything that Kevin James was ever good at, I was just a little bit better. We had some good times, didn't we? It was great, man. 10 years together. That squad car's got to feel a little lonely without me, huh? Well, you know, I get by.

Yo, Jimmy, let's roll, man. Hey, this is my new partner, Nikki Dawson. Nick, this is my old partner, Kevin Gable. I'm the guy. Now you got a face to go with all the stories and stuff, so. Stories? Christmas Eve. Me chasing that crazy deer through the mall?

It was epic. You kidding me? That sounds awesome, but no. It was awesome. Was this your first day working with him? No. It's been a few months now since the last guy retired. That's me.

That's the guy he's talking about. So they went down to the batting cages. I was just crushing every ball. Big boy. You guys might have to get a couple swings? Get it, baby. You need some batting gloves? No, I'm good.

Yeah, it's pretty self-evident that the kids got some hand-eye coordination. He's okay, but I got to tell you, okay, that one went through the cage right there. Every sport we played, I was just the man. And then at the end, I was like the best singer of all time as well. They were always singing together, but I was like way better. I like sang opera and I was like unbelievable. And if I could just be that character forever, just be the guy that's better than everybody at everything. And everybody loves besides Kevin James, that would be awesome.

Did you ask Kevin James what is resting heart rate was? I tell you what, I hope it's not as low as you guys. Because it's not, that wouldn't be a good thing. I mean, he's not in great shape as far as like, you know, weight goes, but he is an athlete. Train with him countless times actually at this point, not to, you know, name job. Like, you know, we've hung out a lot. I've done a lot of training with him.

He's like an exceptional athlete. He played football at Cortland University. He was a running back and then got in a comedy. Definitely gained some weight. But he's still that athlete underneath some of that fat. And he's been training mixed martial arts for like almost 20 years. He could throw down if you needed to. His wrestling heart rate is probably all right.

It's probably all right. Not as good as mine. Definitely not as good as Simons and yours. Opportunities like that being on a sitcom hanging out with Sandler and James, how crazy was that when those things first start happening to you after you become a UFC champion? That happened when I wasn't UFC champion. I had lost my belt already. But that was crazy for me. I was friends with Kevin for a while. He was from Long Island. And him and Adam were close friends. So he got him on the episode. And it was going to be my first time acting. And so Kevin knew, Like me and Kevin were friends.

So I'm just, I could tell him, listen, I suck, help me out. Tell me, you know, everything I need to do. And he'll tell me. It's not like, you know, I have to feel embarrassed about that. But now you're bringing an Adam Sandler the first time I'm ever acting. And it's in front of a live audience. He's going to look at me like, why am I wasting my time with this newbie actor and just kind of be like a dick?

So I was super nervous. And when he came in, I didn't know what to expect. The only request he had on that show was to have a basketball hoop around. So he could practice basketball. because that's what he does for exercise. You know, he flew in, you know, to the airport. And by himself, he went to some random basketball park in Brooklyn to play some pickup basketball.

Like, how do you do that? Everyone knows you are. Like, what's that like? And he's like, hey, you know, I kind of just wait for one guy to be like, you know, hey, leave him alone. Let's play basketball. And usually, you know, he doesn't. And that's what usually happens.

He's just such a down-to-earth dude. He was awesome to hang out with. You know, obviously Kevin's the man. And to have my first acting experience to be with those guys. And I had a bunch of lines. How are the wings, boys? It was nerve-wracking, but the whole key with acting, not that I'm a pro, is that you want to sound comfortable. It's like me and you're talking right now, besides you're doing it in front of all these cameras and live audiences.

And you just want to like, you know, you could do the us and you could stumble because that's normal, that's normal day life. And so because they were so like chill with each other and they weren't nervous and they were so relaxed, it helped me become more relaxed. I had a good performance, I think, because just because of that, they were so relaxed. I was able to relax and just have fun. Acting is super hard, man. Remembering lines and then being able to spew them out the right way is not easy. It felt like I was getting ready for a fight. Kevin James would be like, I would be that guy if I had a fight that would go into the octagon

and Bruce Buffer would be like, are you ready? And are you ready? And he'd be like, no, I'm actually, I'm not ready. I'm not ready. Can I get a minute? And he'd just like jump out. He's like, I don't know how you guys do that. They were laughing at me being because I was so nervous for that.

and they just didn't understand why or how. And I'm like, man, this is different. Are you the reason Kevin James did that fight movie? No, no. You're open with that? That was before we were friends. Oh, okay. There you go.

That makes sense. I wish I was friends with him at that point. We all do. Yeah, man. I would have loved to been in that movie. Here comes the boom, by the way. That's what it is, right. Chris, I have to ask you about Ray Longo,

because we've talked about a lot of Long Island Legends on this podcast. But I need more Ray Longo in my life. Not only is he trained yourself and two other UFC champions, Matt Serra, who closed as I believe still the biggest underdog in UFC history to win in a title fight anyway against GSP. Al Jermaine Sterling won as an underdog and then defended his belt as an underdog against Peter Rion. So all three of you have won as underdogs. What's it like to have raise a coach? What's it like to have him in your corner? What's like some of the best advice he's ever given you? Because he's just a complete character for people who haven't observed him,

at least on TV. I'm curious what he's like in real life. But he, I mean, he reminds me of a cross between like Ray Romano and all of my uncles from Queens. So I'm just curious what it's like to be around Ray Longo and how inspirational he is. Let's go keep that jam moving out. He's the man. I mean, I think he's going to go down as one of the best coaches of all time to have three guys from Long Island in a local area, but you know, Baldwin East, Baldwin East Meadow and Uniondale, you know, all within like, I don't know, five miles of each other. Take three kids from scratch and turn him into the UFC world champion. It's unprecedented that no one's ever. ever done it. You know, other coaches have had a bunch of, you know, they've had other champions,

like Javier Mendez at AK, but it's old, it's not guys from that area, you know, he took local talent and turned them into, you know, world championship, which is unbelievable. And it's because how much he cares. Like he becomes friends with you. It's not like, you know, coach where, you know, hey, show up for an hour, we're going to hit pads and I'm going to put you through a workout. You're going to pay me and go home. It's, he's there literally every day of the week, anytime you want. And he's, you know, he's pushing you. He's pulling you back when you, you need to get pulled back. He's not afraid. There's times I've came to the gym. Also, you know, I'm fighting with my wife or, you know, I got something going on with my kids. And he's

like, yeah, we're not working out today. We're chilling. And we just chill. And so he's really, he's really good with that. And that would be like on a Sunday. He's wasting his time coming in. And he'd be like, you know, all right, we're just chilling today. Let's play guitar. And so he's just a good dude who really cares. He gets to know his fighters. If he likes you, he's going to get to know you on a real personal level. He's going to know what's going on in your life. You know, you're going to know what's going on in his life. Become my best friends. And his faith in us, like, just is at the ultimate level. And a guy who is as good of a coach as him, for him to have, you know, confidence in you,

just gives you such confidence in yourself to where you just don't think, you just don't feel like you could lose and you don't want to lose. You don't want to let him down. He's really such, he's a great coach. That's, you asked me a few questions in there. And one of them was, you know, best advice. Best advice. Best advice.

I mean, the infamous one was in between rounds when I was fighting Aniston Silver the first time and in between the first and second round round, I took down Aniston, I was ground and pounding him. He got back up. He started, you know, showboating, doing the normal thing that Anderson does, you know, trying to mock me and make me feel like, you know, I have no chance to beat him. And so in between rounds,

I come back, I sit down on the stool and he's like, I want you to punch a hole through his fucking chest. And that was technical advice because when a guy, so Aniston Silva was leaning back, with his head and moving his head, but he wasn't moving his body when you're not moving your feet. You want to go to their body first, hit him strong there and then come up into the head. And so that's what the, that's really what he was trying to get out. But he said it's in such emotional way that like got me going.

Like, I'm going to fuck this guy up. And then I ended up knocking him out that round. So yeah, that's probably the most memorable, memorable advice. But there's been a lot over the years. That's what I say to our team too. I, Simon, Sean, I just want you to punch a hole in the, fucking chest. Yeah.

That gets you amped up. Hit people in the fucking mouth, run it up their fucking throat. That's it. Cut it in, baby. Chris Widman, Long Island's finest. Chris Wideman Day coming up. Don't miss it. UFC superstar on the way back.

Everyone, listen, I'm excited to see what the E60 piece is at the end of the year on your full recovery and your return. to fighting. Thanks for coming on the podcast, man. Really appreciate it. I appreciate you guys have me. Good times, man. For Sean Zorillo, for Simon Hunter, for Matt Mitchell. I'm Chad Milman. This has been the favorites from the volume podcast network. Download us from Apple Podcasts from Spotify, wherever you get your podcast, rate, review, subscribe, give us five stars, say whatever you want. Feedback is a gift. Until next time, love you.

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