The Joe Rogan Experience - JRE MMA Show #10 with Tyron Woodley

Episode Date: January 11, 2018

Joe Rogan sits down with UFC Welterweight Champion Tyron Woodley.

Doo-doo-doo. And we're live. We're live with the champ. We're live. We're live with the champ. What's up, man? How are you? I'm chilling, man. How you doing, brother? You look better than anybody I've ever seen just a couple weeks out of shoulder surgery. I'm a savage, man.

You're walking around like there's nothing going on. They took my savage stem cells out of my own damn back and they threw them in my shoulder. Out of your back? The hip bone, whatever the fuck. Oh. Bone marrow, they got in there, out of my own damn back, and he threw him in my shoulder. Out of your back? The hip bone, whatever the fuck. Bone marrow, they got in there,

centrifuge spun him, shot him into my shoulder, and shit. I should have a sling on, but I'm out Tuesday anyway, so I kind of prematurely decided to come out of the sling. Oh, so you're supposed to be

out of the sling in six days? Yeah, no, no, no, no, no, no,

Is that six days? Five days? Whatever Tuesday is. Five days, so it's Thursday, yeah. Four or five days, yeah.

Wow. So my guy's really aggressive, I went to Dr. Five days. It's Thursday. Four or five days, yeah. Wow. So my guy's really aggressive. I went to Dr. Andrews. He's out there in Pensacola. And he said, no, we need you back punching in two months. So the day after surgery. Hard? Day after surgery.

He said making contact. So two months. I mean, right after surgery, I was doing two a days. Fucking full ass rehab. Really? Yeah. Like crazy. So I'm like, these dudes is nuts. This shoulder, I had this done in 08. I was doing two a days fucking full ass rehab really yeah like crazy So I'm like these dudes is nuts this shoulder. I had this done in 08

I didn't move for like three weeks. Would you have done with that one same thing? Now you hurting this in training you're hurting it in fights Um a lot of people people don't know about me to think I just throw my right hand a lot But I wasn't never really confident with my left hand because I had that left labrum tear. So it felt weird to throw hooks and it felt weird to use my jab a lot. My shoulder would fatigue a lot. So I didn't tell a lot of people that,

so I just started bombing, bombing like hell with my right hand. It wasn't because I was just so right hand heavy. So now that I had the surgery on this one, I'm going to stem cell both shoulders, rehab the crap out of it, and also bought this, machine called Artwave.

You ever heard of it? Like a Russian stem? It's like nuts. No, what is it? It's like a Russian stem machine that has the ability to make your muscles contract 500 times a second at its highest setting. So a lot of people use it. The Colts use it.

A lot of pro athletes use it. The people that made it in Minnesota, they don't give a lot of information because they don't want their intellectual property stolen. But they charge you like $12,000 to $14,000 for the machine. Then they charge you $5,000 to show you how to use it. Then if you really, really want to know how to use it, they charge you another $5,000. So I was lucky enough.

I hope they ain't watching this shit. I was lucky enough to get one from my homie Mark Clayton. He used to play with the Rams. I just bought his from him. And so what is it called again? It's called an ARP wave. ARP wave? ARP. A-R-P. A-R-P wave. I think that stands for Advanced Recovery Program.

Wow. Advanced Recovery Program. So basically if you think about scar tissue, soft tissue, it has ability. It's not like that stem that feels like that needle poking, but it's like intense stem that goes through it can break that fucking scar tissue up go through soft tissue and basically increase blood flow range of motion so spraying ankles you know in one session that should be healed really yeah I've used it hundreds and hundreds of time I just didn't had a money to buy

it until recently Wow they using this since college and so now you put this on your shoulder and what well you put it on your shoulder and they have like this posture so you hold this posture this position right um and then they also do a balance test first because if your back is fucked up your knee and your balance is off then neurologically it's not going to actually send um the current to the right spot so they maybe it's your lower back and your shoes are fucked up, so now your shoes are messed up, so make your lower back hurt. You know how to balance that. Right.

So they do that first, adjust you, make sure you all balance out. Then they find what they call a hot spot. So they put it at a neutral site, the black pad, which is like your lower back or something. Then wherever you're feeling the pain, if I'm feeling it right here, the pain might not be coming from there. So they search around and whoo, this shit jump out. So now this becomes a hot spot. then wherever you're feeling the pain, if I'm feeling it right here, the pain might not be coming from there. So they search around, and whoo, this shit jump out. So now this becomes a hot spot.

So now they take the other pad off and find the spot that when those two connect, you feel like you're about to die. Then they wrap you up, and then they do seven minutes on reverse, seven minutes on positive, and then it's painful as shit. But I've done training camps, had some severe injuries

and nobody would have ever known. Really? Yeah, it's crazy. So you're saying that if you have something that's bothering you, a lot of times there's something that's wrong somewhere else that's causing that to be bothering you. Yeah.

And this somehow or another finds that? No, you do a balance test first. So say like a chiropractor comes in and he say, oh, your hip's off, your leg's longer. He adjusts you. You have to be adjusted and balanced first. Then they put the pads on there and they locate what they call the hot spot. So say my shoulder, right? For some reason, I broke my wrist a long time ago.

So I can't do like that. You can't push down on things? Yeah. So you see how I can't get my hand to bend? Oh. So if you get down to push-up time, I you see how I can't get my hand to bend? Oh. So if you get down to push-up time, I'm going like this because my wrist is in the bend. With knuckles, right.

So when I'm throwing a punch, especially if I'm throwing just a crazy-ass punch, you can imagine that if I don't distribute the force properly, that shit's, my form's going to be sore, probably what's causing my shoulder pain, also being in extended position and wrestling, extended stretched out over time and time, it caused a shock.

Now, just that one punch I hit Damian Maia with, maybe that wasn't a punch. That might have been the last damn straw to broke the camel back. But I think wearing terror from all those different years just beat my shoulder up. So you, what's this guy doing here? Before and after, best kind of version

I think I could find of a good video. Yeah, range of motion-wise is actually deceiving because sometimes you'll fucking get zapped on this deal, and you couldn't bring your arm up at all, and then all of a sudden now you're like, oh, shit, I'm healed. But you're not really healed. You got to continue to do the protocol, continue to do the treatment, and work on that range of motion.

If you do it one time and you feel great, go out there and start shooting threes, your shit going to be fucked up. Hmm. Yeah, so. So in the Damian Maia fight, you hurt your shoulder, like, with one of the first punches you threw, right? Oh, my gosh.

I knew it happened because I knew it's what they call suplex or dislocated, whatever. So I saw it opening, had already lumped his eye up. I'm like, oh, I'm going to try to fuck that side of his face up. So I saw his left eyeball already almost closed. So I said, I'm going to try to go hammer him. Pow, I threw the punch, and I felt my own shoulder go down. And I'm like, oh, shit. So then I was like, I can't lose a fight.

I can't let the dude take my belt. So at this point, I said, I'm going to throw straight punches. And reaction, and I see my power punch, I'm going to throw it. So a couple times, I forgot, and I threw it, and it kind of went out again. And he took some shots, and I lift him up, and it kind of went out again. So three or four times in a fight, I can feel it just go, like a whole five or six light bulbs just crushing on your shoulder. You kind of feel it going. But I had that pain before, and I mean, it sounds stupid.

I'm blessed that I tore this one because I know what it felt like. Right. And I know that the only pain that I'm going to feel is when I extend, when I try to go that direction, or any overhand right, that shit was going to be a wrap. So when I stayed here, I just threw straight punches. And there was a couple times I blitzed it forward, and I wanted to punch, and I didn't punch because I didn't feel confident with my hand.

So you knew something was wrong, but you just didn't know exactly what it was. I knew it's suplex, so I knew it dislocated for sure. Whether the ligament was torn or not, I was praying that it wasn't. Because you can actually do that, slip it out without it tearing. But most times when you do that, it's a result of these muscles fatiguing, you're punching too hard, making contact with your target, and then your whole muscles just go, just kind of feel like, the best way I can explain it, everything just kind of fell down. So you tried to rehab it for a while, right?

Yeah. You tried to, what did you try to do? Man, I did, I did the ARB treatment. I did regular physical therapy. I mean. You got an MRI? MRI, I got two MRIs. I had one doctor tell me that, you me that I didn't have to do it.

I could. One doctor can care less. And finally, I went to Dr. Andrews, and he was like, you know what? How long do you plan on fighting for? And I hate when people ask me this. I'm like, until I get tired of fighting. And he was like, well, if you think you're going to be done fighting, then don't get it done. But if you want to have a career and you want to be able to comfortably punch,

he said, I watched your video. He said, you make your money with your right hand. He said, if you want to go out there and punch and be confident, let me go in there, let me clean it out, let me anchor it down. We'll shoot some stem cells, some PRP in there on the way out of the surgery. We'll be aggressive. We'll make sure you get that range of motion, and you'll be back in there punching. So I decided that my ass fought four times, four world title fights in a year.

If anybody deserved to touch up something they heard in the fight, it's me. So I decided to go with it. I was so close, man. Even all the way up until the day of surgery, I was like, man, I don't want to fucking do this. I don't want to do this. I just don't want to be down. Now, were you still training? Were you still throwing punches?

Yeah, I was training. And what did it feel like when you were throwing punches? I mean, that's the reason why I got it. I mean, uppercuts, straight punches. If I throw a straight punch and I didn't turn my body over and I was just arm punching, shit would hurt. If I throw an uppercut, it didn't hurt. I was shadowboxing, hitting pads, hitting the bag. If I throw an overhand right, it was not going to happen.

Shoulders are such a weird joint. There's so much motion. Even now, you're doing the rehab now. Part of my protocol is with dumbbells. I can light shadow box. But if I come out here, you can just see the way my body is starting to get alarmed. I don't feel comfortable yet. But you're only how many days out of surgery?

Two weeks. Two weeks is nothing. Nothing, yeah. It's amazing that you can move it that much. I'll be back training in a couple months. Wow. Yeah. Well, with this ARP machine and then with stem cells and PRP,

it's like the world's a different place now for injury rehab. I had this shit in 2008. So I tell you, and I rehabbed myself. I took a rehab book. I had all these protocols from these sports medicine people that gave me, and I put my own shit together, and I madebed myself I took some a rehab book I had all these protocols from these sports medicine people that gave me and I put my own shit together and I made my own workout and I did it religiously twice a day but it's not the same as somebody stretching you every single degrees every direction every plane watching your growth and actually being a specialist I was just doing

shit because I didn't want my shoulder messed up, and I just started fighting. When I first started, I was a wrestling coach for Tiago Alves, Eve Edwards, Dean Thomas. I wasn't really a fighter fighter. I had a couple amateur fights, but I didn't know if I wanted to do this shit or not. Then I had to have a shoulder surgery. I'm like, damn, man. I don't know how the hell I'm going to pay for this. So a guy named Wade Rome, he was an American Top Team guy. I didn't know what the fuck American Top Team was.

He brought the Satellite school To University of Missouri Where I was coaching at He came in the gym And he wanted to Pay for our weight room Wrestling team

And I'm like Well shit Let me go in there And train in his gym And I went and Trained in his gym And I worked for him Full time

So I can get insurance So I can get The shoulder surgery And shit After that I said Let me get this Fighting thing

I was trying I wasn't even I was just doing Just to see What it was like But And, shit, after that, I said, let me get this fighting thing a try. You know? I wasn't even – I was just doing it just to see what it was like. But, shit. That's crazy. Yeah. That's crazy when you think about how successful you've been at it. And I had a lot of chances to quit, too. Broke in debt, 50 grand in debt.

I'm like – I told my coach, I said, I can't do this shit no more. I said, I'm a full-time coach. I'm going negative day 15 out of 30 days. Man, I can't even afford shit no more. I said, I'm a full-time coach. I'm going negative day 15 out of 30 days. Man, I can't even afford it. That's when gas, remember if gas first hit, I was getting 99 cent gas, and all of a sudden it went to three bucks at the brokest point in my life. I was like, hell with that. So I did that, and he said, you know what?

You got a future in this, man. He said, take out a student loan. I was in graduate school. He said, take out a student loan. I was in graduate school. He said, take out a student loan. So I took out a student loan in graduate school to fund my MMA training. Wow. And I didn't even finish graduate school. Wow, that's crazy.

Yeah. It's crazy that it all worked out the way it did now. Now I'm a war champ. Shit. Hey, it worked out. Shit, I would complain about if Dana tried to pay me 50 grand less, knowing being 50 grand in debt, you know? It's like tables have turned quite a bit.

Yeah, it's fascinating, isn't it? When you look back, if you look back 10 years ago. 10 years ago. God, I can't believe I've been fighting for, what is it, 12, 13 years now? 2005 was my first fight. Wow. Yeah. Nuts. Now you're world champ so with this uh rehabilitation they said they'd like you to throw punches inside of two months yeah and then when would you be able

to like fully resume training um they think three months they think three months i mean granted with this surgery you can hear someone say four months you can hear six months some people take a full year it depends on who the surgeon is, how aggressively they push you forward, and it depends on why you need to get back. I got a belt to defend. I got money to make, and I got people to ask me, so I gotta get back. So with that said,

I'm going, I called the UFC, I'm like, this is bullshit. I'm your world champion. What am I going to do with three days a week? I'm not a senior citizen. I need physical therapy approved for five days a week. I need this game-ready ice machine. I need to do PRP in six weeks. They should want me to get back.

And, you know, they listen to me and say, you know what, he's right. You know, give him whatever you want. Give him so he can get back and get in there fighting. Because I was fighting extremely often for them. Now, you're living in St. Louis? Yeah, I got a house in St. Louis. I'm out here every week, though. I'm doing Fox, TMZ.

I didn't know you were doing that many different TV things. So what are you doing on Fox? I'm doing UFC tonight. Right. D.C. is out in training camp, so anytime D.C., Bisbee, or whatever, I'm usually the guy that fills in on UFC tonight. And you have to come out here and do that every week? Wow. bids me or whatever i'm usually the guy that fills in well you'll see tonight and you have to come out here do that every week wow they don't watch them say hey bids me you you and dc don't watch yourself i'm a snag your damn job i'm gonna be a permanent out here because i had a good show

yesterday i want to watch out do you like doing it i love doing it i love getting out of the box that's why you know i know we're probably gonna get into it later that's why i did stand-up comedy the other day i did stand-up comedy i other day. I did stand-up comedy. I heard about it. Adam Hunter had you up at the Dime Bar. Yeah, I went to the Dime Bar. Because I feel like acting is what I'm going to do after I get done fighting. And if you can be okay with being embarrassed, not being uncomfortable,

and really not giving a fuck, then you can become a great actor if you have the gift and you're willing to put in the work. So I've always put in the work. I'm not worried about that. But if I got to cry, I got to be a college douchebag, I got to be something that I'm not used to being. I can be a tough guy all day. I can be a secret agent.

I mean, you're doing film. We can watch a film and mimic it. I used to mimic Friday. You cannot tell me I wasn't smoky. I would sound just like Chris Tucker, like I was really in a fucking movie but he didn't have anybody to look at he had a fucking script and he had to bring that to

life and you know we really critical on actors and I just don't want to be the weakest link ever on the film so so that's what you want to do when you're done with all for sure for sure has that always been an aspiration or is it something you saw as like a way to do it after it's over I mean I got a lot of stuff.

You know, I don't really even like fighting, to be honest. Yeah, I'm just good at it. What don't you like about it? I don't like the politics behind it. I don't like the martial art aspect that's been taken away from it. I don't like the disrespect to the sport. Guys that are not really training hard, they don't look the part. I think professional athletes should look a certain way.

not really training hard. They don't look the part. I think professional athletes should look a certain way. I really just don't like the youth, this generation of fighters that watch and move on TV, on YouTube, and they go and they try to do it. They don't want to drill repetitiously. They don't want to actually put in the work. But why does that affect you, though?

It affects me because our sport is also the fans, and the fans are actually culture who gets to fight. And if a guy's going to talk enough shit and start wearing fly suits then this day and age that's good enough for a title shot and i think it's disrespectful to everybody that came before that remember that you had to go 10 and 0 then you get the fucking call from the ufc if connor want artem loboff on in the ufc at a 500 record he's gonna be in the ufc. And I just, it's ways that the sport has taken the love out of it, but I just find a way in dominating my opponents, taking all their twos away from them. You know, Dean, Tom, and shout out to them,

and Duke Rufus are fucking masterminds. So I take pride in that, take pride in going in there, not getting hit, dominating, knocking people out, whatever. But when you say you don't like fighting, you like all those things. You don't like what other people are doing. I love training. I don't like what the sport has become. So this is an interesting thing to talk about because a lot of people have the traditional martial arts approach of respect for your opponent

and just fighting to the best of your abilities and letting the chips fall where they may. Whereas other people say, well, listen, to get people to show up, to get asses in seats, to get pay-per-view buys, there's got to be some drama and some entertainment value to it. And that's where someone like Conor comes into play. Conor's the only one that's done it, though. Yeah, well, Ronda a little bit. Ronda did it a little bit. Conor's done it the best.

But he actually puts in the work. Right. Chael Sonnen before him. Chael Sonnen did, but he didn't. His mouth was louder. He's actually probably the best at it. He's better than Conor at it. Conor's very close.

But Conor actually delivers on more of what he said he's going to do than Chael did. I would agree. So if you've got to think of anybody who's brought both worlds together best, I would have to say Conor actually delivers on more of what he said he's going to do than Chell did. I would agree. So if you've got to think of anybody who's brought both worlds together best, I would have to say Conor. He knocks a lot of guys out, tries to call the round. He's only lost a few fights total. And even those fights, it was risk-match-reward. Fighting a guy, switched opponent, disnotice, different weight class.

He's taking those risk and rewards that if you lose it's not really that big of a deal nobody's going to really oh my god drop him down to the bottom of the pack but these other guys that haven't done it

don't have the skills ain't putting in the work I mean they can kind of really just well you see the trend right there is a trend right now be good at it at least though

people being incredibly disrespectful very rude and you know you saw what happened with Colby Covington and, you know, Fabrizio Verdum hits him with a boomerang. You know what I mean? Now he's pressing charges. I mean, that dude's a queef.

Coward Queefington. There's a lot of attention being placed on him, though. I mean, it's slightly effective. Let me see how much attention is being placed on him. But it is effective in the moment, right? I mean, you don't want to see how much attention is being placed but it is effective in the moment right I mean you don't want to go look at his stuff

it's effective in the moment I'm going to tell you why because sometimes people like drama sometimes our sports is like you know nothing going on

it's like fuck this kid's talking shit let me listen to him right and right there at that point Conor wasn't around Ronda wasn't around

John wasn't around who has UFC really projected as a star Sage Northcutt had a few bumps Paige Van page fans and had a few bumps they trying to push up in Ghana but what started they have so now if you got this person is willing to go crazy even though we know it's WWE the person's really not getting slammed we want to live in that moment anyway we want to go for the villain who

has he really beat beyond a man Mayaia what was the other top 15 victory well the damian maia was a big one but that was a big one but he was one but he was unmotivated and he was a guy that already had his title shots and you know he's getting up there in age what is really his motivation i wrote the book on how to beat damian maia and he didn't even read the book he just skimmed through it because no part of the book said let the jiu-jitsu guy fuck you up and bloody your face kobe cummings did that by himself i didn't do that you know even with my right arm being messed up so um yeah he's just i'm just looking like how many followers do you have yeah you know like he didn't have a big following before that that was his biggest fight

that was the big the big coming out I don't want to discredit him. Damian Maize is a G. I don't want to discredit Kobe. But for me, have some people on your resume. Have some. I didn't beat Derek. I mean, Derek Safanin, Paul Daly, Jordan Meehan. This was before I even got in the UFC.

My first fight was Jay Heron, who had only been stopped by George St. Pierre. Lost one fight to Ben Ashman. That was was close and had won every fight after that. So I never had an easy fight. All my guys was either former champions or former contenders or former, you know, people that were interim champions. And when you got a list like that, you still don't get the respect. Kosh check. Condit. Why are you saying you don't get the respect? From who? From him him From Kobe

I don't Oh my god I can't care less about What are you saying You don't get the respect You definitely get respect Watch this When you think of

Robbie Lawler Okay Carlos Condit right Right They're in a different category Now is it weird to you That I'm the champion And I beat both of those guys

Wait a minute What do you mean by A different category I see them in a category And and this might just be me. I see them in the category as if you're talking about guys that are going to enter the Hall of Fame, right? And you think about all Josh Koscheck and Carlos Condon and Robbie Lawler and, you know, this guy, and Anderson Silva and all those different guys. But it's funny that I've defeated these guys.

Wait a minute. You're crazy. You're talking crazy. I don defeated these guys. Wait a minute. You're crazy. You're talking crazy. I don't think so. Yeah. No, you're definitely talking crazy. You're the champ. You're the current champ.

You're acting like people don't respect you as the champ. They respect the people I've defeated more. You think that Carlos Condit gets more respect or Robbie Lala gets more? That's crazy. Carlos Condit gets more respect than me. Robbie Lala gets more respect than me. Robbie Law gets more respect than me. But from who, though? For sure. Even guys that I defeated like, you know, Stephen Thompson.

Stephen Thompson don't get more respect than me. I'm not going to say that. But people are willing to be like, oh, my God. You know, tell them. Dana said, tell them to get in the cage with Tyron Woodley. He didn't say, hey, Tyron, tell them to get in the cage with Stephen Thompson on the seven fight win streak knocking everybody the fuck out

with a really super weird style that took me months and a fortune bringing all these fucking crazy Taekwondo, Raymond Daniels, all these, the best of the best

to train him, to beat him. Right. Like nobody gave me that pass. I don't know why you concentrate on that. I don't. That seems,

but you are because you're talking about it I'm not concentrating on it because my path is pretty easy You need to call me when you have these nutty thoughts I'm telling you man I'm going to talk you through this shit You're the fucking champ I'm telling you This is all nonsense

This is wasted energy When you think about It doesn't matter to me because my path is pretty clear what I want to do I want to be the best You're the current I want to be the best welterweight of all time Reigning, defending, undisputed UFC welterweight champion. You act like we in 2007 when that was the shit.

But it is the shit. It's just in the middle of it. You're in the middle of it. Why is Conor and Nate fighting super fights that are bigger than a world title fight? Because people don't know you as much. They don't know you as much yet. And whatever, look, Conor's a weird enigma. And whatever reason why that guy caught fire the way he did,

it's a weird combination of personality, results, skill. And Ireland. Ireland's a big factor. I mean, if Conor was from Nebraska, I guarantee this shit wouldn't have happened that way. Well, Ireland's a big fight country, too. It's not just a big fight country. The loyalty and the love that those people have for the people that fight from Ireland, there's nothing like that.

It's a weird anomaly. So he's just this weird aberration, and he gives people almost like false hope of what's possible. Yeah. Because I don't know if it's possible with a lot of people. It's lightning in a bottle. For whatever reason, it worked with him. But he started it himself, and then what happened?

Yeah. Here come the jumper cables. Boom. Boom. Yeah. UFC put the machine behind him, right? They definitely put it worked with him. But he started it himself, and then what happened? Yeah. Here come the jumper cables. Boom. Boom. Yeah. UFC put the machine behind him, right? They definitely put the machine behind him. And it makes sense.

It makes sense, too. But without the machine behind him, there was giant hordes of people flying in from Ireland. I remember one of some of his earlier fights, I was like, and I was commenting on it, and I was saying, this is a guy who was on the undercard, and they're acting like this is the main event of a pay-per-view. They've flown from Ireland. The audience is filled with thousands of people that flew from

Ireland for this guy. That's when he was fighting Brimage and Rendell. Yeah. Even back then, it was insane. I didn't know him back then. You know what's funny? Somebody, my old striking coach, was like, Conor McGregor's this huge star and da-da-da-da. I'm like, that's when he first got into UFC. And I'm like, that's when he first got in the UFC.

And I'm like, I don't even know who the fuck this kid is. He was trying to convince me, no, he's a superstar. He's a da-da-da-da. And then every time I get a chance, I say, you were right. He wasn't then, but this motherfucker ended up being a superstar. And he loves to get that credit because at that moment, I think I was getting ready to fight Dunyon Kim, and he kept talking about this Conor McGregor.

So I said, let me look at this motherfucker. Let me look him up because you obviously got a boner for this dude. And I looked him up. I'm like, alright, he's good. I get it. But let me see him beat a couple people and then if he can beat Dustin Poirier, then I'm going to give him his props. Knock, knock, knock. Knock, knock, knock.

He's 100% legit. But it's what else is going on that's so weird said all right but he's 100 legit he's legit but it's what else is going on that's so weird it's he's not just legit he's also this unbelievable personality that people are drawn to him that's no one can manufacture that so like he's he's rehearsed that he's practiced that he's looked in the mirror he has natural wit he's he's willing to go risky and say some below the bell shit and he does his research he don't come to a press conference just you know smoking you like the front row of a comedy show he's looking into some deep shit and when you get there you kind of stumble so you're right he has

that he also has a fight style he also has so happened to do 80 of shit he says he's gonna do so now he's the fucking messiah right but you can't say that the UFC has not gotten behind you or people don't give you the respect that you deserve. That's why you're not in the same level as him. I didn't say that, Joe. But you said that him and Conor, that Conor and Nate are fighting these super fights. I'm saying that he has gotten that. And I'm saying that he has gotten that and he has lived up to what he said he's going

to do. And on top of that, you got to be able to fight and he can fight. And he's been up to what he said he was going to do. And on top of that, you've got to be able to fight, and he can fight. And he's been able to talk. So now not only can he generate the pay-per-view buys and get people interested, he's actually going to deliver a knockout against Jose Aldo, a stoppage against Eddie Alvarez, and a crazy back-to-back fight with Nate Diaz. But don't you think that you're in an unusual situation, first of all, because you win the title by by spectacular first-round knockout

against Robbie Lawler, right? Unbelievable knockout. But then you have the most awkward and difficult guy to defend your title against. I mean, Wonderboy Thompson is a very unusual opponent, and it's hard to look good against him. And out of all the people that fought him, you're the only guy that put him in

danger not once but twice. And the way you fought him, I've defended the way you fought him many times because I say look, if you look at tactically, if you look at technique, and you look at the art of fighting, that's the way to fight him. If you're a guy like Tyron Woodley, a powerful

puncher who's a great wrestler, who's got one real one-punch knockout ability, you're not going to open yourself up to Wonderboy. You're not going to rush him either. Exactly. Don't get picked apart. You're not going to fight him the way he wants to fight. What you did is you laid back a lot, and people booed a lot because of that. But when you connected, you were the one that hurt him.

In those two fights, he was the one that was in big trouble in both of those fights. Not you. Well, his fight, it was not. For me, I'm never, you know, I got the same thing in the Maya fight. But at the end of the day, if someone's attempting to take you down multiple times, over 20 times, it's very hard to get in any type of exchange. Every time you swing, they want to go in and try to take you down. Well, the Maya fight was tough, too, because of your injury.

But you've got to go back and look your shot to get down. Well, the Maya fight was tough too because of your injury. But you got to go back and look at Anderson Silva's dark days. There was the dark days when Anderson Silva fought Damian Maya where nobody wanted to have anything to do with him after that fight. And Anderson Silva fought when he fought...

There was several fights where he had just boring results. And people weren't interested in him fighting anymore. One spectacular knockout and everybody's back on board again. One spectacular knockout to get the belt and then everybody slowly forget about it moments later. Because at the time, Stephen Thompson said, no, I'd rather fight Robbie and I think he's going to win anyway. And then he'd think I'm supposed to be just so graciously like, oh's fight and honor and no you want to fight robbie right you said robbie was gonna win you say you personally prefer to fight robbie because i've been waiting around even though that wasn't

the case so you said this stuff so don't think that i'm just gonna give you my spotlight and say hey you know what yeah let's do this no if i'm seeing the table being set i know there's nate diaz is out there nick diaz is out there you're st pierre's michael bismuth's guys that have that name they have that status that i'm trying to get to those are the guys i want to fight i want to knock those guys down because now i can continue to inch myself up fighting him well he's trying to get the same thing i'm trying to get why the hell am i going to pull you up with me right if that's the fight they wanted me to fight i'm one of them one they never wanted me to fight, number one, they never

offered me the fight. He said something that I think the UFC thought I wasn't going to take the fight. The first time they offered me the fight, I accepted it. So when all these people are like, oh my God, you don't want to fight, trying to pick his fight, he's just got the belt. But you listen to too many people, man. You listen to too many

people saying things that you're responding to that are irrelevant. I think it's the people that are in the organization. I got to, you know... Okay, you're dealing with people that I don't deal with then in that regard. But as far as like people that are analysts and experts... I don't... As far as like the social media, like I really don't read social media.

Good. I post because I want to post and I leave it alone. So when I say that, I'm not saying, without saying who it is, I'm not saying that the fans are making me feel some type of way. Because my path is clear.

I want to be the greatest welterweight of all time. Right. Whatever it takes, when I get an opportunity, I'm trying to knock you out. Okay? At all times.

Stephen Thompson is a different type of fight, as you said before. Look what happened when Robert Whitaker rushed in. Look what happened when this guy rushed in. Those guys, that's what he thrived on.

People forget he KO'd Whitaker. They forget all this shit. And also realize how tough it is to take him down against the cage. Remember how fast he pops up. So why didn't I give myself 31 foot that if I want to double-leg him, I got the whole place to stretch across and blast him out. He don't have one-punch KO power. So even if my back is against the octagon, when I go for a shot,

I got the whole entire octagon to take him down. Versus pressing him, go for the takedown, him and the cage are both defending my shot, and then him trying to, you know, do some razzle-dazzle kick. So I have no issue with the way I follow him or Damian Maia. I don't think there's another way to fight him. Unless you're another elite. Look what Jared Masvidal did.

He didn't take Maia serious. He didn't train the way. He didn't train the way. He didn't bring in the top jujitsu guys. Like, it's easy to spar and kick box and look good and never have to take a shot. The way I train, I put myself in positions I know I'm never going to be in. You're never going to take me down. You're never going to have my back. I'm never going to be mounted.

But I'm training that shit anyway just in case I slip on a banana peel, I get clipped with a punch. So George Masvidal, just from the way I watched him fight, he was surprised. Even the stuff that Stephen Thompson hit me with never surprised me. I got hit with it. He landed some good shots. He's really quick. I mean, I'm fast and explosive, but he's quick.

Those punches get to you fast. He's long. And when you start bouncing, you don't even know what the hell he's going to do. And it's kind of like, what are you about to do? What are you about to do? You can watch his performance until he didn't do the proper work. Same thing with Damian Maia. He trained with Kobe.

Like, try to take me down. I'm going to stop the shot and just knock you out. That's not how it works. You got to bring in guys that know his half guard, how he hooks an ankle, how he sweeps, how he switches from one side to the other, what happens when you grab him around your waist. If you give him his back, that's how you're going to lock up. I train with guys that train with him,

and the guys that are better than Damian Maia on the mat. That way when I get out there, had he taken me down, I would have been prepared to escape, get away, get back to my feet. Do you think that having a chip on your shoulder in some way helps you? Like all these people that doubt you in some way, you have to prove yourself. It gives you a little extra fuel. I just know that I'm the best. Like, you know little extra fuel. I just know that I'm the best. Like, you know, me and Dean was training one day, and I stopped practicing.

I just had a brain fart, and I just started thinking about George St. Pierre, and I started thinking about all his skills, and I started thinking about Robbie, and all the top welterweights. And I said, I'm the fucking best in the world. Nobody's faster than me. Nobody's stronger than me. Nobody works as hard as I do. Nobody has all the skills, the striking, the wrestling, the jiu-jitsu, the defense, world nobody's faster than me nobody's stronger than me nobody work as hard as i do nobody has

all the skills the striking the wrestling the jiu-jitsu the defense the timing the explosion the toughness i've been in wars i've been in close fights i've been in fights while i knock people out i've been in it all so when i decided that i'm the best i started carrying myself as if i was already the champion and that's why i had champ camp before I even had the belt. And when was this around? Like, which fight? Right, shit, Robbie. Right before Robbie.

So right before Robbie. Yeah, I was supposed to, no, champ camp actually was supposed to start with Johnny, but Johnny had some complications, didn't make it to the scale. So they told me I was fighting Robbie. Yeah, I remember talking to you backstage one day at one of the weigh-ins, and you were frustrated.

And you were like, when the fuck am I getting my title shot? Yeah. Well, you know, this is the thing. We know the game changes, and sometimes they want to see fights play out before they make a call. They never want to be on the line saying, you are definitely getting the title shot. Right. They've done that a couple times, and we've seen what happened, right? And they pulled out of it.

Pulled out of it. So I fought Kelvin gasolam and kelvin gasolam was supposed to be this conditioning freak and he missed weight by 10 pounds and you know for me i don't play that shit don't act like you were so sick no you didn't make weight and what happens when you don't make weight you actually didn't have to go through and suck your body all the way down to scratch weight like i did so you should actually look better so i don't want to be like oh oh, he was sick, and that's why he – no. He had his chance. He just is never going to beat me.

I fought him. He was the one that was huffing and puffing. He couldn't hit me. He couldn't land any significant punch. I landed. And after that fight, you know, it was some scrutiny on the fight. I'm like, okay, you want me to grapple with him so he can try to take my back and do a redneck and chuckle like he did to everybody else?

You want me to exchange with him and let him get into the fight when I know I'm fast, I know I'm sharper, he can't hit me, I got better defense? The whole time he's pushing me against the cage, I hear his coach say, no, no, no, don't go there, don't go there. He was terrified the Kaushik thing was going to happen to him. So he backed up every time he pushed me to the octagon. Why wouldn't I play on that?

You know what I mean? So when people look at that, he said that he was gonna get a title shot i don't know if you remember that they said if kelvin gaslin would be tyrant he's gonna get a title shot you remember i remember people saying that yeah they were saying that but they weren't saying that about you they didn't say that if you beat him white said if kelvin gaslin beats tyrant he's getting a title shot remember he had already been coach been selected for the coach. He got the coaching job off the loss. I have to miss him, weight about 10 pounds, and then they told me he would never fight at 185 again if I took the fight.

I mean 170 again if I took the fight. So he lost to me, missed weight, still got the tough coaching job, and on top of that, he was going to get a title shot had he beat me. So, again, it comes to this chip on your shoulder thing. You feel like everybody's against you. No. You do a little. I don't.

I know you want me to, though. No, you do. This is what you're saying. It's the things that you're saying. I'm not saying that. I'm just saying that I know the deck of cards I got. And I know how to play these deck of cards. But what do you think the deck of cards is?

The deck of cards is there's going to come a moment where I'm a superstar. And when I get to that moment, I have more leverage. At this time, I'm not at the point where Conor McGregor's at. So if I've got to fight the number one contender, and I can't vouch out to fight a George St. Pierre or Bisping or a Conor or a Nate at this moment, I'm going to keep whooping ass until I get to that point. Well, after George is beaten right now, George is in an amazing position, right? George beats Bisping, if he wanted to,

and he dropped the title, but if he wanted to come back and fight you for the welterweight title, that's a legitimate super fight right there. That makes a lot of sense, particularly coming off of his big fight. You don't think he does? You tell me. You think George wanted to fight me? Look at your face.

George had the chance to fight me before Bisming. He chose to fight Bisming. Well, maybe he felt like that was a better fight for him to come back with. It was definitely a better fight because if he would have came back against me looking like that, George would have been right back in retirement. He did not look great. Bisming did not look great.

One thing that helped George in that fight, his experience. He loosened up. He was a little uptight. You know, he hadn't been in the octagon, what, four years almost uh a little over two yeah you know a little over three right it's more than that was it four it was almost four it wasn't quite four it's almost four because i fought november i fought november ufc it was the 25th anniversary i think you're right i think it was like four years in the cart yeah okay yeah it's long-ass time. So for him to not fight that long, I don't care how much he trained. You know what I'm saying?

In a fight, you don't have to train to count, focus on a person. It's tough. So when he came back, I saw the experience kick in. He relaxed a little bit. That's when he landed a left hook. Had he not relaxed, I mean, who knows what would have happened. Right. Yeah.

It was interesting because Bisping was tight, and I expected him to be looser. Bisping doesn't have the—I mean, he's not guys out, but he's not a guy that, you know, you're thinking of like a Rumble or Ngannou or myself or somebody. A one-shot guy. Or Stevens, Jeremy Stevens, somebody that's going to touch you and is over with. So with that said, he's a person that's going to be volume. He's going to be in your face, great conditioning. He's very durable.

And George had to make that adjustment. He said, all right, I'm going to be an athlete on this guy. Let me fake him out. Let me get him thinking about the shot. I took him down twice. Let me get him thinking about it. Level change, come up, left hook. Very smart move.

And that's something that the experienced abandoning champion allowed him to do. Well, there was some talk about him fighting Conor, but I didn't hear any of that from the official people. Yeah. And him fighting Conor at 170 pounds

would have been fascinating in terms of like, it's a terrible matchup for Conor. Yeah. You know, in terms of like, just physicality.

Once again, risk and reward. What happens if you lose to the greatest welterweight of all time? Yeah. People are going to torture him about it. Yeah, but Conor does want to lose another fight right now. This is not a good time.

Especially in his division, there's so much talent. Right now, at 155 pounds. You think he wants to see Khabib right now? That's what I'm saying. That's what I want to see. Tony? What about Tony? I mean, Tony's a... If I was Conor, which I'm not, if I had to pick

the fight, they both are going to be, I mean, Khabib might be a bigger draw because he got a huge, huge 140-something million people in Russia. Might be a bigger draw, but they both are very annoying fights. Very dangerous fights. Dangerous. Tony Ferguson,

you know, it don't take much for him to find a way to get around your neck and choke you. He doesn't get tired. He doesn't get tired. He looks like he's losing fights, and he don't care. His striking is very awkward. He can really do what Nate Diaz did to Conor. Yeah.

And Nate Diaz, you know, baffled him, like, damn, I hit you with everything. You're still around. Then Conor went for the damn shot. The same thing's going to happen if you do that to Tony. Tony's going to submit him. Here's my prediction. My prediction, Conor doesn't fight for a while. He watched those two fight.

They strip him. They strip Conor. Then he comes fight me. Habib and Tony fight for the world title. For you, you're in a situation. I don't think either one of those guys are in the cards right now for you. But for you, who do you see at 170? Well, what's your dream?

Tell me what your dream is. To be honest, my dream was to really, I wanted to fight George. That's still possible. I feel like if I fought George, I can legitimately say I'm the best welterweight of all time if I beat him. It's still possible. George hasn't retired. Has he said anything about you? He asked one time on a Fox Q&A where he was like, so Tyron, if you fought, what would be your game plan if you fought us?

But they got X'd out because they didn't want to get all the fans pumped up that we were fighting. Why wouldn't they? Do you think they're plotting against you? I see it in your face.

Joe, he is not going to do that to me. I am too bright, mother. You want me to be like the people who are against me I want you to just be focused you want me to be real?

do I think that the people want to see me lose? no I don't think they want to see me lose do I think that sometimes I'm a pain in the ass? yeah I am but in business at one point in any business the person that's doing the business not want their best interests.

So if I'm an athlete and I'm looking out for my best interests and I'm trying to put myself in a position where, you know, I can fight, become a legend, become a Hall of Famer, I should do that. If I want to be paid appropriately, I should do that. In our sport, because of the way the UFC started, we the damn UFC, you do what we say, and that's it. it no questions you fight who we want to fight you get paid we want to get paid and that's it and then what happened the specialists the one trick ponies stopped then collegiate athletes start getting in there college wrestlers you know kenny florins the goddamn um almost thinking about

being a doctor at one point. So now you got intelligent people coming into the sport. They just so happen to be businessmen, entrepreneurs. So now I'm looking at market value. I'm seeing what these motherfuckers are making. And guess what? I should be making this if they're making that. If I'm the champion and this person is doing this, I should do that.

Knowing what everybody's making, knowing all the numbers, I want to be at least fair. I don i don't ask for no crazy i don't ask for no 15 million and all that other stuff so if me doing that makes me become difficult then i guess i'm just a little bit difficult okay but let me let me look at it from their perspective what they look at in terms of what uh an athlete is worth is like how much are they bringing in like what kind of pay-per-view buys are you getting how much was your how much how much are they bringing in? Like what kind of pay-per-view buys are you getting? How much was George bringing in when he first started fighting? Well, he wasn't making nearly as much money back then. But how much was he?

Everybody has a start a certain way. You can't throw you out and say, okay, fight Wonderboy, UFC, blah, blah, blah. And if you don't do five, oh, well, you did 300,000 buys. You're not a draw. Okay? How was I promoted as a champion? How was – Okay, this is a long, circuitous sort of a conversation if we continue along this way. But what I'm trying to say is there is a –

I'm trying to use that fancy word. There's a way. It's a $15 word. It's like a circular sort of a thing. You're going to keep circling back around to it. What I think is there's a way for if you want to make a big super fight, like if George St. Pierre really wanted to make a big super fight and the UFC wanted to make a big superstar out of you, that's the fight.

Because one of two things happens. Either he beats you and he's even bigger than ever. Or you beat him and you become bigger than ever. Let's do it. That's what I'm saying. There's no other fight that makes sense. But that makes sense. No one's trying to stop that from happening.

When the UFC is not willing to pay a certain amount of money, it's because they don't think they're going to get a certain amount of money. It's not because they're trying to avoid getting paid. If they thought that you could be some enormous superstar and they could make Conor McGregor-type money from you, they would never say, we don't want to do that because we don't want to give Tyron power. They don't think like that. they think like they're numbers people they're trying to make pay-per-view buys and if you only sold 300 000 pay-per-view buys because the wonder boy fight there's not much they can do about that i mean it's not whether or not you are promoted a certain way as a fighter it's like that fight for someone like me is fascinating. But for the average fucking Johnny Lunchbox

I want to see blood cut type person, that's not... But the pay-per-views are bought before the fight takes place. Right, but they knew the style.

They knew the style, they knew the matchup, and especially the second time you guys fought. It was the fight of the night on the biggest card of UFC history, UFC 205 in Madison Square Garden. According to them, it was the best fight of the night on the biggest card of UFC history, UFC 205 in Madison Square Garden.

According to them, it was the best fight of the entire card. So if that was the best fight and it was fight of the night. Is that because it got the award of fight of the night? Yeah. Yeah. That's just so you can get a bonus though, right? I mean, and when you look at the fights in terms of like, you could have a card where there's a lot of fights that aren't entirely significant, and that would be the fight of the night.

I don't think there's anything wrong with that fight. I've told you before, I like that fight. What I'm saying is that if the UFC, the people that are cashing the checks, if they deem, because they're the one to make decisions, right, Dana and whoever, if they say that this fight was a fight of the night, right? Which means you get more money. You get more money, a couple more bucks. But think about this.

How different was the second fight? It was really kind of the same fight. You get more money. A couple more bucks. But think about this. How different was the second fight? It was really kind of the same fight. Pretty much the same. So how is that fight the fight of the night? And then the very exact fucking fight a few months later is a boring fight. I don't get it. What happened differently? Well, who said it's boring?

If you say it's boring, the world's going to say it's boring. If Dana says it's boring, the world's going to say it's boring. If Dana says it's boring, the world's going to say it's boring. Well, I never said it was boring. No, I'm just saying. I say if you look at the result after the fact, people might say, if you knew what happened during the fight, you might say, well, it's boring to watch again. But watching it live was not boring at all because the consequences are so grave. It's one of the things that I pointed out. If Wonderboy fucks up, he's going to sleep. if you fuck up you're gonna get kicked in the head too like

anything can go wrong in that fight that's a very dana didn't say it was a boring fight what he said was man the way you the way you let go on him in that period you know why don't you just do that every time that's crazy i said dana i said when let go, it's because I see the opening. When I see the opening, you always know me to go. Tell me one time I've seen an opening and not went and I had somebody hurt and I not try to finish it. But don't you think that that's just frustration for someone who's not fighting, who says things that aren't logical to you as a guy who's a champion who is fighting? These are things that people say that aren't logical. But it's damaging when it's the president.

Right. When the president says it, especially when you got the cultist following, whatever he says is going to go. If they say Damian Maia is boring, everybody, and they're not even going to change a word. If you say Tyron Woodley and Damian Maia, oh, my God, that fucking fight was boring. Somebody's going to say, Tyron Woodley, Damian Maia, oh, my God, that fucking fight is boring.

They're not even going to change a word. Right. That's what we have. So as a champion and in a position of being supposed to be promoted, at that place, it becomes damaging. So now, how are you going to come back and say, okay, Tyron's back. His shoulder's fixed. He's one of the fucking most devastating guys out there. Knock your motherfucking head off. But then five minutes ago, you just say he was boring.

You know what I mean? It's very hard. Okay, I i see what you're saying we're talking about two different things what you're saying is you feel like the way they talked about you after the fight was damaging and disrespectful and and also not accurate in terms of the consequences of your actions in the fight and nobody and nobody came through and was like damn you know what i have to find out this motherfucker tore his goddamn labrum in the first round and he still didn't give a one damn takedown didn't hardly get touched at all in the entire fight maybe punched two or three times total and that's kind of clutch this motherfucker got he must got fucking a strong that's what you would like to hear no i don't want to hear anything because i want to fight but But you're saying that. You're saying that.

I'm saying that it was a choice made to say one thing. Right. But Jadina flies off the cuff, right? And it's always been the thing about him. But it's also, you can also fly off the cuff in the other direction. You can also say, hey, this person's the fucking next superstar. Oh, my God, Ngannou's crazy. Oh, my God, Cody Garbrandt is fucking the man.

Oh, my God, Paige Van Zandt this. Oh, my man, my man sage york at that you can say that what's what happened million followers two million followers and that makes a big difference but that can happen to you at any moment you're frustrated by the reaction to three particular fights the two wonder you definitely you want me to be frustrated down fella i know i want to tell you a secret i'm working like hell right now i know you are and i'm not frustrated i know you are, fella. I know what you're doing. I'm going to tell you a secret. I'm working like hell right now. I know you are. And I'm not frustrated. I know you are. I'm doing a lot of TV work. You're obviously unhappy with certain things.

And this unhappiness stems from the result of three fights. But if you look at one fight before that, the Robbie Lawler fight, I mean, everybody was talking about you like you were the most devastating thing of all time. The fact that you were able to do that to Robbie Lawler. All you need is one or two more fights like that and everybody forgets about

Damian Maia. That's what happens. You want me to be frustrated so bad. No, I don't. Well, let me tell you this. I definitely don't. I'm really not frustrated, my man. Now you're playing the cool guy. I'm not frustrated. I just know my deck of cards. I got a very thick

layer of skin and I'm very cautious of who I am and my brand. Now, when you look at the division, right, and you're the champ, you're at the top of the food chain, what do you see in front of you? Like, what threats, what fighters do you think present unique challenges? None. Well, what do you think is next for you? If you just forget about the super fights with Bisping. Oh, shuffle.

I think the deck needs to be shuffled. I think when I come back, I think when I come back, I'll take that back. Carl Usman is dope. He's freaking, he's fighting this weekend, too. Kamaru Usman's a bad man. He's a bad man. And he's a guy that a lot of people are not talking about for some strange reason. For a lot of reasons.

And I'm okay to talk about it because, you know, I've always been honest. He's very tough. He's a good style matchup for me to present a lot of challenges. He's a good wrestler. He's very tough. He's a good style matchup for me to present a lot of challenges. He's a good wrestler. He's very strong. He's starting to come along with his hands. And if I'm going to fight somebody on some number one contender shit, I want to fight somebody I respect, somebody like RDA,

somebody like Usman, Till, Pantenevio. These dudes are savages. And, you know, not to sound cocky, but I think my toughest challenges are behind me. I think Carlos Condit and Robbie Lawler. And at the time when Koscheck was almost a few fights, you know, away from fighting George and, you know, those guys at that moment, those guys presented a lot of problems.

Koscheck had the same overhand right, just a little bit different. Wrestling, great chin, great condition, a lot of experience. You know, it was a threat of problems. Koshek had the same overhand right, just a little bit different. Wrestling, great chin, great condition, a lot of experience. You know, it was a threat for me. Robbie Lawler was a fighter of the year, back-to-back, you know, had some of the craziest fights we've ever seen. Fucking lip hanging open, he's bleeding.

And that's the dude I had to walk with. He was a boogeyman at the time. So for me to get bubble guts, don't nobody have that power that Nate Marquardt did when he knocked me the hell out. I'll never be hit that hard again in my life. You think Colby Covington is going to punch me and make me, like, wince and back up? No.

Look at how he was punching Damian Maia. Those are rabbit punches. So if you don't have great wrestling, great wrestling defense, great conditioning and power in your hand, you're just not going to give me butterflies. Well, I think for sure you have accomplished some great things and fought some amazing fights against some very dangerous challenges. I mean, there's no doubt about that. No one could deny that.

And those fights that you did just talk about, Carlos Condit, particularly Robbie Lawler, Josh Koscheck in his prime, amazing fights, great results. But when you talk about Usman, you talk RDA you talk about Darren Till you're talking about also potential amazing fights you know I think there's a lot of outstanding opportunity and I think your division is one of the most talent rich divisions in the sport yeah I'm not discrediting that I think that I'm always a forward-thinking dude so the Till guy didn't sneak up on me neither you saw Till in advance you saw him I'm him? I'm going to tell you how I do this, right?

At one point in time, it was Brandon Thatch. It was Eric Silva. It was Kelvin Gasolam. It was Stephen Thompson. Brandon Thatch, Eric Silva kind of doing it away. Gasolam went up and fought me. Stephen Thompson went up. So now the Darren Till, the Usman, all those guys, they're in that same pool.

So I'm always thinking about training, always thinking about fighting these guys, always game planning for these guys before they even come up. At some point, I don't have to fight everybody because they're going to cancel each other out. If it's five studs, I might walk into three of them. So I got to be ready. Damian Maia wasn't a surprise. I asked for Damian Maia after I fought Jake Shields or somebody I fought. And my manager was like, dude, why do you want to fight Damian Maia, man?

He's such a beast and this and this and this and that. I'm like, I know this on paper. Rory McDonald's my toughest matchup in the division right now. Okay? Even when Ellenberger was a stud and was fucking wrecking people because of his power, his wrestling, and his condition, him and Johnny Hendricks also would have been a threat. What guys were I trying to fight?

Let me get Johnny Hendricks, former champion, Rory McDonald. So I was going up against the guys. Carlos Canet still today might be my favorite fighter. So when I watched his video, I was getting bummed. I'm like, this motherfucker good. I was stealing his techniques. But what So when I watched his video, I was getting bummed. I'm like, this motherfucker good. I was stealing his techniques. But what happened when I fought him? Did he look like the same Carlos Cain?

No, I punched him. He looked like a ratchet. He was snatching him across the octagon. It wasn't like I just kicked him in the knee and, oh, my God, he was going to win. No, he was getting dominated in that fight because I did my homework. I respect him that much

that I took all his tools and I left him naked out there in the octagon. He had to deal with my speed and he had to deal with my power. That's what I do to everybody. Nobody sees it. They think I'm just this strong-ass fucking wrestler with a hard right hand. But look at the way that Jordan Meehan looked against me. Look at the way that Tarek Safedine.

I outstruck Paul Daly. Kelvin Gaslam has never looked like that against anybody else. Same thing with Steven. Same thing with Maya. like that against anybody else. Same thing with Steven. Same thing with Maya. Same thing with Condit. Same thing with Robbie. It's not a surprise. That's the way that Duke and Dean and I, we address what we, if I'm fighting me, fight Tyron this way.

Take him to the late round. Kick his leg. Stay away from his power. Circuit his way. So now I'm going to formulate my game plan about what I think you think of me then i think about every fucking thing that you do every skill every talent every mannerism what you do when you get tired what you're gonna go to what's your bread and butter and i get ready for those and it sometimes like robbie took a long time took up until the week of the fight for me to be like i got this motherfucker what was it

that was different he just punches really awkwardly. He punches his arms away longer than what you think. He's got way better boxing than what you think. He doesn't look all like you see somebody slipping and stuff. He threw a lot of unorthodox overhand lefts and uppercuts and right kicks, which makes it very difficult to slip offline and throw any punches. He will scramble any first shot. If you shoot a shot, he'll scramble you hard.

You have to shoot two, three, four attempts to get him to the ground. He had one butterfly that he used to sweep to get out the ground. So we just knew all that. And then at any point, he can play rope-a-dope, and then he can come off swinging. So that's a lot of things to think about. And then he just can stand here like this and go boom, and you're knocked out. Not technique, not turning hips.

He just had heavy hands naturally. So that all was a threat. We've seen him in wars. He's not going to go away. So I had to formulate a game plan that I can get around all that. Now when you saw the RDA-Robbie Lawler fight, you said that you weren't really impressed with that fight. Because RDA had him against the octagon and he was teeing off for 30,000 punches and he didn't knock him down and he didn't hurt him he was

basically just punching the punch anytime you punched a punch you're wasting your energy well he's going up in weight and he's more volume now than he was when he was fighting at 155. Yeah. I think he's fighting. Hey, you hear now. He's got more energy. When you get here now, I mean, if you make the jump, you make the jump.

You know, you can't be like, I was a lightweight. No, he's a welterweight now. He's a welterweight now. But, I mean, his style is different than, especially a guy like you, throws one-shot bombs. This is my thought on Robbie, okay? A lot of people, I pick Robbie apart in the film room before I even fought him.

The fight was over with before the fight started. Robbie starts out the first 30 seconds extremely hard. He ends the first 30 seconds extremely hard. Second and fourth round are kind of close. He's going forward, you're going forward. He'll take something to give something. Third round he usually takes off. You ever notice that. He'll take some to give some. Okay? Third round, he usually takes off.

You ever notice that? He gets against the cage. He's confident in his defense. He'll let you punch, and he'll block you. Okay? He won't waste a lot of energy so he can get into that second gear. It's not that he's so well-conditioned. Watch his fight against Carlos.

Watch his fight against Rory. Watch his fight against RDA. He spent that same moment against the octagon where he allowed the opponent to punch at him. The same thing with Johnny. Then he came off trying to get through and burn themselves out. It's very smart. But if everyone act like he's just a freaking marathon runner, he's not. So when that happened, I said, OK, you got to get on Robbie hard.

You got to get on Robbie quick. He's been punched a lot. Like I did all every fucking stash you can think of. I had Riku and the Fightonomics guy hit me up saying, Robbie has a flat face. You punch his fat face, he's used to absorbing those punches. Go around the side, punch him on the jawline. What kind of crazy logic is that?

Man, I'd use everything. I can tell you how many times he stepped to the fucking left during a fight, how many times he threw his right hand versus his left hand. So, you know, I've been really secretive about a lot of this stuff because most people just see me as an athlete. They just punch hard. There's a good wrestler that, you know i've been really secretive about a lot of this stuff because most people just see me as an athlete they just punch hard there's a good wrestler that you know that's tough and you know you know good game plan but i really overly get obsessed with studying my opponents to the point where when masvidal was fighting wonderboy i'm like he about to do this he about to do that

he's doing this he's setting this up look told you there you go oh he's about to do it and everybody's doing this. He's setting this up. Look, told you, there you go. Oh, he about to do it. And everybody's looking at me like, how the fuck do you know that? I said, you motherfuckers watched that fight that I fought him, and you thought it was so easy. Get your ass in there and let Wonderboy. So Wonderboy is a G, and he can take a punch way better than I thought. I hit his ass hard. And he went down three or four times, and he just had the mentality,

I'm not going to lose today. I'm not going to lose today. And he was rewarded for that effort of just saying, you know what, I'm going to give it all I got. And he'll forever have my respect. But at the end of the day, you got to be able to be honest with yourself. I'm honest with who I am, what I do well. I'm not the best at elbows.

Can I throw elbows? Yes. But am I going to sit out there and act like I'm Matt Brown or somebody? No, that's his deal. Matt Brown ain't going to storm you across the octagon like I will. So once I see what I do well, I can hide my weaknesses behind my strengths. I can allow my opponents never to put me in a spot where they're going to have the advantage. Did Damian Maia ever put me in a position where he had me in his half guard?

No, never did it. But you still, you didn't think that RDA's performance against Robbie Law was impressive? Because he overwhelmed Robbie. I mean, he... Did Robbie turn his ACL in a fight? I don't know. I think he might have. I didn't hear anything about that.

From a tactical standpoint, I thought he had some really good successful low kicks. Yeah. And I thought he kind of abandoned that. I was kind of surprised that he didn't do that. And then I saw Robbie do the rope-a-doe, but Robbie never came off. Normally, like I said, Robbie will take some punches, then he'll come off storming you. Never came off storming.

Maybe it's because he messed his leg up or whatever. But just from two people that they want to say, you're going to fight me next, let me fight somebody. And it's a... Did he tear it? Lawler fought RDA, seriously injured. Now those injuries have been revealed. Let's see what we got here.

What does it say? Meniscus. Destroyed, blew his ACL and meniscus. In a fight? And every other thing that's in your knee out in the third round. Said wobbled over to the fence. So it makes sense now. Yeah.

It makes sense because if Robbie is notoriously known for, you know, like think about when Rory had him against the octagon, when Carlos conned it, and he comes out and he comes out blasting. That makes a lot of sense. It said he hurt himself before the fight, though? Yeah. I had another article I was going to pull up, but I found that that said, yeah, he was injured going into the fight. So he tore his ACL before the fight or before the fight, though? Yeah, I had another article I was going to pull up, but I found that that said, yeah,

he was injured going into the fight. So he tore his ACL before the fight? Or during the fight? Let me find that one. The title of that, though, go back to that real quick. The title of it said, he was seriously injured going into the fight, right? No, it said injured, and then the injuries have been revealed. Oh, okay.

I think that was said the third round, right? Yeah. Which is right where you were saying that he lays off. Oh, okay. Yeah, so. I think that was said the third round, right? Yeah. Which is right when you were saying that he lays off. Makes sense. Yeah. So he didn't come off, you can't go to a threat

on his brother. Yeah, that's why it's a foreign post. That's why I didn't want to go in. That's a sure dog, man. You can't go to the threat on his brother. We don't know where the L.A. came from. But yeah, you know, that would make sense

because I'm used to Robbie coming off and getting those 30-second bursts. Like, I don't know exactly. I talked to Big John about this for a while, about the judging, right? And, you know, damage being landed. Yeah. So some of those fights where even if Robbie wasn't the more active one, he's damaging people more because he punched harder and is a little more aggressive.

But how can Carlos Condit control the fact that he just don't punch as hard as Robbie? Right. You know, should he be penalized? Did you think he beat Robbie in a fight? I'd have to go back and watch that again. I thought it was a very, very close fight. At the time, did you think it? I don't think I did.

I think I thought that Hendricks did or that Robbie did just enough to win. But I'd have to go back and watch it again. See, I thought at that moment that Carlos won, but I wasn't like, oh my god, I can't believe they gave it to Robbie. It was extremely close. You can make an argument for either guy winning, I think. But Robbie, because he landed the more harder punches and they look scarier,

I think that's why he got the nod. That means something, though. I mean, someone who hits harder, it has more damage. That damage should be accumulated. I mean, that should be added up. So if someone throws punches and it looks like it's affecting the person more, even if the other person throw more and land more, then the person that's landing the damaging punches you think should win.

I think damage should count for more than punches that don't damage. So, like, if one person hits you. Is that the way that they're supposed to score now currently? I don't know. I mean, what's interesting is Nevada still doesn't accept the new rules. They need to get the old ones right before they try to bring in the new ones. Yeah. Yeah.

But what's also interesting is the scores are much wider now. Like you see a lot more 10-8s now than you ever saw before, which I think is good. I just think that our system, taking a system from boxing that only uses hands and applying that to takedowns, submission attempts, leg kicks, elbows. You would almost have to know this guy is a jiu-jitsu world champion. The fact that this guy swept him, he should score more because this guy, this is his warehouse, but no judge is going to have that insight.

I think it should be a much broader system. I don't think it should be 10 points at all. I think you're dealing with extreme amounts of variables it should be like almost like a hundred point system the guy that ref my fight against the wonder boy the first time the one that um was one judge that gave a 10 10 8 the first round and a 10 9 the fourth round the fourth round is when i knocked him down three times. Yeah, the 10-8 was when you almost got him in the guillotine.

Is that why he... No, no, no. No, that's what he said. I almost got him in the guillotine in the fourth round, yeah. And he said, well, you know...

I thought you... Why did I think you almost got him in the guillotine the first round? In the first fight? The first fight, the first round,

I just ground the pound the hell out of him. I took him down and I just beat him up for the whole round. He gave that round a 10-8. So it was the fourth round where you got him in the guillotine the fourth round is when i knocked him down i knocked him down again i knocked him down again and then i went for the guillotine so i knocked him down three times and i went for guillotine the judge told me he said you know i thought it was a 10-8 round you know but then

you wasted a minute in a guillotine wasted a minute he told me now I had just got over this shit right I was just he really fucking said that

he said that I had just got over the fact that I felt like it was some bullshit I got over that fact I said you know what

whatever it is whatever it is let's do it again this time I'm gonna fucking beat him this motherfucker walked up to me I don't even know who he is say hey man I just want to, you know what, whatever it is, let's do it again. This time I'm going to fucking beat him. This motherfucker walked up to me. I don't even know who he is.

I said, hey, man, I just want to let you know I judge your fight. I'm the one that gave you the 10-8 in the first round and 10-8 in the fourth round. Then all of a sudden my insides just started burning. He's like, I just want to explain to you why because I don't have a problem facing the fighters after worse. You did well. I was going to give you a 10 round. You know, it was crazy.

And, you know, but then you wasted a minute in the guillotine. Oh, that's so crazy. I said, sir, let me tell you something. I said, the first round, if you would have said 10-9 on that, okay. I ground and pounded. I bloodied him up. He didn't show no offense. 10-8, 10-9, whatever you want to give it.

I'm cool with that. And I said, the fourth round, I knocked him down three times. And I and i said i want to tell you a guillotine choke is not a um it's not a wasting it's not a move that you can say i wasted time in it's a finishing move and it was tight had he fucking tapped out the fight would have been over with so the fact that i try to knock him out then his neck became available to my arms. Then I grabbed his fucking neck. Then I tried to choke him out. Then he popped his head out. Yes, he's tough for making it through the whole

onslaught of me trying to kill him, but does that give him an extra point? He said, but then he threw some punches. I said, go back and watch the fight. I said, he threw a few punches from the top. How many landed? He said, I don't know. I said, sir, I punches from the top. How many landed? He said, I don't know. I said, sir.

Said, I'm over the fight. I'm glad they didn't say I lost the fight. But the only significant damage that was landed in a fight came from me. The only knockdowns, the only blood drawn, the only jeopardy of someone, the referee getting involved happened when I was on the other end of it. I just think the system sucks. I really think the scoring system needs to be revamped. Hey, just don't let it go to the judges.

That's ridiculous, right? Because people are going, you know what? Fuck it. Today, I'm going to let it go to the judges. Hey, you know what? I'm not going to try to knock you out. No. I trust them three right there look very trustworthy. I'm going to leave it in their hands and all my kids and my family and my belt. I'm just, you know, I'm going to leave it up to them.

I always hate that expression. I hate it because it's so stupid. Some guys don't want to be finished. Most guys in Steven's case would have been overweight. Yeah. You know, some guys are just tough. I mean, I don't want to just be finished. Nobody does.

It's a foolish way of looking at it. It's not. It's just the best way to fight is the best way to fight. And if you see an opening, like you said, that's when you move. The idea that you're supposed to just rush into danger, that's how you lose. And the fact that people don't know that and that people say things like that and they don't understand what, they really shouldn't be talking about fighting. Fighting is a complicated thing

the way i describe it thing and it's also it's one sport where it's like if the team doesn't run the ball well they don't run the ball they pass so if this is steven thompson he doesn't have to wrestle he doesn't have to try to do jiu-jitsu right he just have to stop you from doing it to him but he's got that style that's impossible to find anywhere else. He's standing completely sideways. He's throwing front leg kicks that can knock you out. He's doing a lot of weird stuff. And he bends at the waist like a snake.

All those years of point karate. He's really fast at it, too. It's very good that you brought in Raymond Daniels, too. Raymond Daniels, which is a pain in the ass. Oh, yeah. Sage Northcutt which actually in my opinion sparring wise

was way harder than Wonderboy more MMA experience for sure and also sidekicks Sage is his sidekicks he's not

I had the word Taekwondo Pat to spar Sage he kicked me through the fence oh my bad Mr. Woodley I'm like damn this motherfucker

front leg sidekick is no joke it's no joke so he he was good I had a kid named Chris Bang from the same background Woodley. I'm like, damn, this motherfucker. That front leg sidekick's no joke. It's no joke. So he was good. I had a kid named Chris Bang from the same background. Then I had another guy named Michael Tang, who's the Taekwondo guy

from the East Coast. Actually, a lot of people don't know this. Duke, actually, his original base was Taekwondo. So having all those guys, it wasn't fun. I mean, it was many rounds. I did not win. I mean, Sage Northcutt kicked my ass for a couple days because I couldn't figure out how the hell to get up on him

without getting kicked in the sidekick. Then now you've got to think about it. Like, damn, how close do I get to him before he kicks me in the side? That's a totally different style of movement, and Wonderboy's probably the best in the world at it. Yeah, he's good. It's a very complicated fight, and that's why it was interesting to me. I almost had an MVP out, too.

But his manager was trying to get too much money. Say that again? Michael Venom Page. Oh, really? I was going to bring him out, too. He wanted to come out, but his manager wanted me to bring him, bring the manager, bring the friend. Pay them all this money, get them all three different separate rental cars. I said, I don't know if the hell y'all think I am, what kind of money I got,

but we're not doing that for three days. You made a big change in your life when you started training with Duke, and a lot of people don't know that before that, you really didn't have, like, a main trainer, which is pretty impressive. Dean's been with me for a long time, but as far as a coach, coach every day, I put myself through stuff. That was all I was doing. It's crazy. Before Duke, it was just me.

I had a gym. I would say, hey, guys, you're going to spar at this time. We're going to do this. I would try to address my weaknesses, and I've been really blessed to have the amount of success I had without having a full-time coach. Then it just got to the point when I told Dean, I said, man, whatever it costs, man, whatever I gotta pay, I need you the whole time. I said, because I can't do it. I've been winging this

shit. I can't keep doing that. But what was interesting you told me that it was your son's idea. Yeah, you got a good memory. To go to Duke. You've been taking some notes. No, I remember shit. Yeah, my son, I had, we was doing an embedded thing and he was like, so where are we going tomorrow? I was like, damn. Yeah, my son, I had, we was doing an embedded thing, and he was like, so where are we going tomorrow? I was like, damn.

Like, either tomorrow, it's so on a humbug. I'm like, we either going to fly to Florida, me and Dean, or we're going to drive to Milwaukee. Then my son Darren, he said, I think you should go to Florida. Go up there and train with Ben Askren and Anthony Patterson, those guys, and I think you should go up there. You mean Milwaukee and train with Ben Askren and Anthony Patterson, those guys, and I think you should go up there. You mean Milwaukee. You said Florida.

No, sorry, Milwaukee, yeah. So I said, we woke up that morning and I said, fuck it, we're going to Milwaukee. So the embedded guys, they actually had to drive my car.

I was getting tired and falling asleep. So the embedded guys was driving my truck up there and we went up there. It was this cold, negative 14 degrees. I was like,

man, if this sucks, I'm coming back home in a week i brought eve out there who had never been in the cold in his life he's acting like he's gonna die but um yeah i went out there and then duke has always invited me to come out he don't invite a lot of guys but duke from ben from anthony i always saw those guys killing southpaws. And after I talked to Duke, now I understand. Duke's brother was a southpaw. So his main sparring partner, he learned all the tricks on how to defeat a southpaw. So I'm like, how did Anthony and all these guys,

every time they go against somebody on the opposite stance, they did great against him. So if you do the math, everybody I fought, the model had seven fights in a southpaw Robbie Wonderboy Maya I say Wonderboy again all the other guys slim done young Kim all of in Southpaw and all difficult guys at Southpaw and guess what everybody else in front of me is Southpaw RDA Robbie was Southpaw Cara queef in the Southpaw so yeah you got all these guys that with Southpaw, Kyra Queefington with Southpaw. So you got all these guys that are Southpaw. So it made sense for me.

Not only that, he made fighting fun again. I wasn't having fun with it. He made it fun to learn. I felt like a kid again. It was a great morale at the gym. I felt very specific to what I was doing. I felt like I wasn't doing any training, just pushing sleds and flipping shit just to say I did it. Everything had a function.

And I felt better, and I looked better. And, you know, I did all this training. I was running my fucking self into the ground doing all this, you know, three, four-day trainings and looking all crazy. And I got into the octagon, and it never showed. People were like, damn, man, Tyron got all those goddamn muscles. You got all those muscles, then the motherfucker might get tired. So I'm like, damn, I'm doing all this extra work, but it ain't showing in octagon. But then I started training with Duke and Dean, and they forced me to say, Tyron, trust us.

You're doing too much. If your sparring is affected because of your strength and conditioning, it's no longer a supplement. It's taking the primary. And we're not in fucking CrossFit. We're in fighting. Your sparring is number one. Anything it takes for your sparring to be the best, that's what we got to do. So if we got to run more, do less strength and conditioning.

If we got to actually do none, just spar. If we got to, like, there's been times I go in there and have a shitty sparring day. And I said, I'll see you out in the morning we're doing this again and we're running back because in the practice room you can run it back in real life you can't so i take advantage of you know the playground of if they've been practiced and i think now i just love fighting again i love training i love competing i love winning i love that minute when you know you won. Now, how much time do you spend in Milwaukee? Do you just move your whole camp there? Like, how do you do it?

Yeah, most of the time. I had to spend some time in Florida because Damian Maia, I'll be a complete idiot if I didn't take part of the, you know, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Black Belt, American Top Team. It really depends on the fight. I usually try to get at least four weeks with Duke. The good thing about Duke, Duke doesn't have a huge ego, and he knows what he does well, but he works well with other coaches. That's why him and Dean has been such a great duo.

If I need to bring in another striking coach or another training partner or somebody else, he opens up the door for that because at the end of the day, the goal is for me to be the champion, stay the champion, and reach my goal of being the greatest welterweight of all time. Duke has a great attitude. He's such a smart guy. If it was not for that, then it would be a little bit difficult.

And also Dan Lambert. You've got to realize I've been in the American Top Team since day one. Dan Lambert has never been in the blue about where I'm training and where I'm going. I've always called him. And for him to give me the ability to go and get stuff from other coaches has also been very helpful. No, he's another amazing guy, too.

He's such a valuable guy. In MMA, you think about the amount of money that he spent on an American top team before he made any money. I mean, that guy poured money into mixed martial arts, poured it into it, and created one of the greatest facilities on the planet Earth for MMA, especially the new place. Yeah, the place is amazing. He's great, too.

I mean, as a coach, what I really respect about Duke is not just the fact that he's got this incredible wealth of knowledge, but that he's so humble. He's so down to earth and chill. Most of the G's are. The people that really just know it, they don't have to prove it. Deans like that, Dukes like that,

Lambers like that. Some guys that overly want to show you and stuff, those are the people that are kind of insecure on where they're at as coaches. Striking coaches, I mean, you train with striking coaches. Oh, why are you training with that guy? They, like, get so sensitive. I've never seen it before. Yeah.

So I just don't like to deal with it. Yeah, it's unfortunate. It's unfortunate. My boxing coach is like that, too, Eric Brown from Wild Card. I've been training with him since 2007, 2008. So he's the same way. So now when you're out here like sometimes you're home and when you're home what kind of stuff do you do like if you're not injured if

you're not recovering from a surgery like what what stuff do you do at home i hang out with my kids go to football practice go to wrestling practice take everybody to school pick everybody up play video games what about like training i don't train. You don't train at home? Sometimes, not much. Really? Yeah. You don't do anything? I do strength and conditioning with my guy, Derek Fairchild.

I got an up-and-coming featherweight that's really fast and good boxing, so I play around with him a little bit. I might run, I might hit the bag, I might do the VersaClimber. But when it's camp time, I'm out. When it's not camp time, I'm with the family. That's interesting. So you're not constantly training? No.

Wow. Do you feel like that gives you... You used to. Why'd you change that? Because I stopped liking MMA. Oh, okay. So you feel like you were kind of burnt out. But I never stopped watching.

I'm always watching film. I'm always, obviously, working on Fox. I got to break everybody down. were kind of burnt out. But I never stopped watching. I'm always watching film. I'm always obviously working on Fox. I got to break everybody down. I wasn't burnt out. I just want to miss this shit. I want to get back in there. I want to hear somebody's name. They're fighting me.

I want to get nervous a little bit and watch some film and see what they do well. And then let's get this together. Let's write everything out. Let's map out the training camp. Let's get our partners. Let's do what we need to do. And let's get this together. Let's write everything out. Let's map out the training camp. Let's get our partners. Let's do what we need to do, and let's get after it. And that takes away the pressure from me. Right.

Now, with this injury and the fact that three months in you should be able to probably start training hard, when are you looking to defend the belt again? You know, I can probably fight. April will be kind of pushing it, but May, June, July is usually a big card. The big July 4th card. I'll probably try to wait till then. That's a good one.

Yeah, I'll probably wait till then. And that's probably like most conservative. Tyrone Woodley and George St. Pierre fighting, main event, July, whatever the hell weekend. July 4th weekend, right? It used to be an international fight, yeah. That's the big one. That would be, I mean, that's why I have the biggest chance to get a big fight. That's what I want.

If I was your manager, that's what we got to do, Ty. So July probably. Hang in there. I mean, there's no fight in between that that's going to make sense for me to do. Has George said he's retired or he's not retired? What did he do? He just gave up the belt, right? George, I don't want to speak for George because I like George.

I like him too. So I don't want to speak for George because I like George. I like him too. So I don't want to speak for him, but George is smart. He plays the fact that he don't, oh, I don't really speak English. Yeah, motherfucker's smart. He know what he's doing. Bisming was the right fight. Think about it. Bisming, according to all the middleweights, wasn't really the best middleweight.

Everybody wanted to fight Bisming. Right. So if George is going to go up fighting for another belt, another legendary move, fight a guy that does not have the punching power, maybe cannot take him down, maybe cannot stop the takedown, and for once, George probably had a punching power advantage against Bisbee. So with that said, it made a lot of sense for him to do that. They also had a lot of history training

together. That was a big part of it. In George's eyes. He was very successful against him in training. He was kind of worried about the size though. Yeah. He was like, hey, so how much do you think Bisping weigh? I'm like, are you fucking serious? Are you like really worried about that?

Well, there was talk about you fighting Bisping at one time. I know you guys got back and forth. I weigh, like, 205 right now. I'm good. I'm good to fight at middleweight. I actually offered to fight George at middleweight and give up my belt at welterweight and just fight him. If I lose the fucking middleweight title, then I lost my belt, and now I'm fucking Sam Sausagehead. You know?

I get thrown to the bottom of the deck. But when you make that kind of ballsy say, hey, I'll fight him at middleweight and I'll give my belt up. If that fight doesn't happen at that point, I kind of feel like somebody might not want to fight. Well, it's hard to say, right?

Because he only fought once in four years and there's no timetable in his return and no thought whatsoever there's a lot of weirdness in this sport right now and so much rests on january 20th so much rests on in ghanu versus stipe because i think that fight is going to be gigantic for the sport it's gonna be gigantic for the sport and then you know i think stipe is used to overly working and over you know i mean he He had that spot where he was like, man, when am I ever going to get my shot? And he finally got it, took advantage of it.

I was in a similar situation. I'm like, when am I going to get my shot? Got it, took advantage of it. Ngannou has very scary. He's so scary. He don't knock you out regular. That's the thing. He don't hit you and you fall out.

He hits you and everybody, oh, shh. They wondering if you alive still. And it's kind of like, like when he hit. Overeem. Like he hit Overeem. Oh, my God. Do you see the meme when it was like the Pez candy? Yeah.

And his head, his back of his head almost touched his spine. That was an insane knockout. Yeah, he knocked him down. He's freaky in his speed, his power, and his story is incredible. Yeah. I mean, you want to talk about a story that's like right out of a movie. Yeah. A guy was homeless five years ago, and now all of a sudden in two years of fighting in the UFC.

He's so appreciative and so happy. Yeah. Fucking hands are like two times the size of my hands. You said you shake his hand before? Yeah, they're huge. It feels weird, like you're shaking a loaf of bread. I'm like, damn, this dude. I told his boxing coach, I'm like, this dude I told his boxing coach I'm like man

I do not envy you man you get punched in that body protector I know that shit he said no he said you can put it on I said no I will not hell to the no

I'm not about that life he's something special the real question is what happened in that fight if I was Stipe I would want take him down but he ain't gonna do it

he's gonna try Stipe got a good chin but I wouldn't test it against him't gonna do it. Yeah. He's gonna try. Stipe got a good chin, but I wouldn't test it against him. No. Don't test it. I think he's gonna try to close the distance and grab him and try to drag him to the ground. I think he should, but I don't think he is. You don't think he's gonna be able to? I think he wanna show everybody. I stood up with Overeem. I stood up with

JDS. I stood up with Fabricio. I stood up with all these guys. Totally different thing. Rory Nelson. I know that. Totally different thing. But I ain't on this coaching staff. I don't know what they're thinking. I think he should punch the takedowns, takedown the ground and pound,

wear his arms out, make Ngannou fight him to stop getting takedown and see if he can take some steam off them hands. That's what I think, too. And I think that the clinch is going to be critical. Overeem got the clinch on him but couldn't do anything with it. And Stipe was a college wrestler.

Stipe has got good wrestling skills. You know, he's known more as being an overall well-rounded MMA fighter, but I think he's got to get that clinch. I think standing in front of Ngannou is just you're just playing Russian roulette. One of those bullets is going to land. I'm not standing in front of that man.

Not even just in the even if we do an appearance, I'm like, hey, you too close to me. Move your big ass over there. Big old dude. Yeah, when he connects, it's just, it's something different. So people always ask me this. Do you think they want Ngannou to win? Do you think they're trying to set this up so he can win?

Do you think, like as far as what people ask that? He's an amazing story. If he was the champion, it would be very marketable. More than Stipe? Yeah. Even the firefighter with the raspy voice? I think if Stipe can turn Francis back, that's very marketable, too. I think the UFC wants winners.

He broke the record, right? Yeah. He will break the record. Damn. Which is crazy. Two defenses. I know. That's how crazy the heavyweight division is and always has been.

You know, the most anyone has ever done is Kane. Kane's done two defenses, right? Damn. That's crazy. It's Kane, right? Kane holds the— I don't know if it's Kane or not. And poor Kane.

Kane beat Brock. Kane has so many injuries, man. He's just constantly injured. That poor guy is constantly getting surgery. Did he freaking? I know my man over there. He's checking. I thought you had a St. Louis hat on.

You about to get some stripes over there. LA. LA and he's from Ohio. What part of Ohio? Columbus. Columbus, all right. Cold as hell out there. Fuck yeah, it is.

I was just out in Canton not too long ago. My son played in the Hall of Fame. Who was it? Why no UFC champion has defended the belt more than twice? Heavyweight champion. So what does it say? Does it say whether it's Kane? Yeah, Kane.

Yep, Kane Velasquez. Kane. Yeah. This was a while ago. Yeah. I think Stipe is a version of kane uh with less injuries kane kicks a little bit more but you know just pressure punching um endurance yeah yeah stipe's a beast he's definitely a beast look this is going to be the toughest fight for sure

in ingano's career but what's what's i mean if stipe can win, it's amazing. And it solidifies his position as the baddest man on the planet. But there's something about Nganou that is more enticing to people. It's also the fact that Stipe has been in so many wars and his chin has been touched a lot of times. So he has a great chin chin but you don't want to keep testing that especially against a dude like ingano with awkward power yeah the five round junior dos santos fight was a crazy long fight and he got knocked down by overeem yeah down so it's a tough one but the thing is like we we know so little about Ngannou's ground game. We know so little about his ability to overcome adversity. He's just been smashing people.

I agree. I said that the other day. I think that Stipe's been in the tough fights. He's been knocked down. And he's on a five-fight KO streak as well. You know what I mean? And it's against tougher opponents than Ngannou's knocked out. Yeah.

Well, the sport is so exciting right now, man. There's so much talent. Who's your favorite fighter right now? So much going on. Tyron Woodley. It wouldn't happen to be because I'm here. I don't have a favorite fighter. Max Holloway's smashing right now.

I love Max Holloway. Yeah, Max is killing it. I like his style, too, because his style is he overwhelms you. He's not knocking anybody out with one shot. He's just constantly overwhelming you with conditioning and intelligence and timing and distance, and he can do everything. He can strike. He can take you to the ground.

He's got great defense. His submissions are outstanding. And I like that fight with him and Frankie Edgar. That's an interesting fight. I was just talking about this the other day, but Frankie Edgar has fought similar, talking about this the other day, but Frankie Edgar has fought similar,

you know, Cup Swanson or Yair Rodriguez, but Max hasn't really fought anybody like Frankie before. Somebody that's sharp and compact

that knows how to get close quick, knows how to get out quick. He'll take you down. Frankie don't give a hell. He was taking down, who was that, Charlie Oliveira.

He didn't give a hell how great he was on the ground. He was in his guard punching, and I think that can present some problems. it's a good fight was that a really good fight yeah that's the march third fight and um max is a big big favorite in that fight which i thought was interesting tall too he looks like he's in my weight yeah he's tall confident and in

that in the aldo fight especially the second second fight, man, you see that confidence just oozing out of him. He's the champ. He's a beast. He's a beast. Yeah. I think 55 is an amazing weight class right now. We argue on Fox that they think,

they try to get under my skin and say, lightweight is the best division. I said, don't play with me. Welterweight is the best division. Well, it's your division. After Habib. Yeah. Habib was a beast. I haven't watched many of his division. Well, it's your division. Of course it's the rest of the division. After Habib. Yeah. Habib was a beast.

I haven't watched many of his fights. I watched him and I said, I need to go back and do my math. He fights like that every time? Yeah. He's a monster. Oh, my God. You see the Michael Johnson fight? He's telling Michael to give up.

I saw that clip. I must be jump. Give up. Smashing him. His wrestling and his ground and pound is just so ferocious. It's just on such another level. And when he gets a hold of guys, he's getting a hold of guys that are really good and just ragdolling them.

Like what he did to RDA. Did you ever see that fight? Yeah. I haven't seen those fights. I got to go back and look. Ragdolled RDA. He just beats the shit out of people. Gets you to the ground.

I was a big fan after that. I'm like, man. He's something special. This dude is crazy. He's something special. This dude is crazy. He's something special. And the fact that he did that to Barboza, he wants to move up to 72. Shit, no, he don't. Hey, Melbach Mills, sit my man Habib out of the pack.

Nutritionist, anybody out there, I'm picking up the tab. Stay your psycho ass down there at 55. I'm not trying to see no Habib right now. Yeah. I'm picking up the tab. Stay your psycho ass down there at 55. I'm not trying to see no Khabib right now. Yeah, he's making 55 easy now, though, so who knows? I think what I believe is going to happen is I think Conor's going to vacate. I think they're going to strip him

because Conor's got $100 million in the bank and I think he's having fun and talking shit and he's going to keep training and he's going to make a big fight in the future, but I think Khabib versus Tony is the big fight he's going to keep training, and he's going to make a big fight in the future. But I think Khabib versus Tony is the big fight, and fuck, they might even do that one in Russia. They do that one. They're talking about doing a big fight in Russia.

I heard that. Yeah, if that happens, woo! Man, that's a good fight. I mean, everybody's been waiting to see that fight. Fuck, yeah, that's a good fight. And it's like Tony Ferguson, very unorthodox. How many wins has he got, like, nine, ten in a row? Yeah, he has the most ever in the lightweight division, and I think it's at ten.

I think when he beat Kevin, it was at ten. Who did he lose to? Michael Johnson? He lost to, boy, you got to go way back. Yeah, he lost him a long time. Yeah. Maybe it was Michael Johnson. Was Michael?

Yeah. Michael Johnson, yeah. Yeah. I mean, Tony's so unorthodox and awkward. He had a close one against Eve, too. I'll corner Eve for that fight. He had a close one against Eve. But, man, yeah.

He just, nobody has told Tony that what he's doing is not. Who's Jamie Tony? He lost to Jamie Tony earlier in his career. What is that from? National Fight Alliance. Interesting. At the Hyatt Regency. Oh, Karen Darbidian.

That guy's a very good fucking submission artist. Interesting. Yeah. Well, he done let nine, ten motherfuckers have it since then. Yeah.

Punch, choke, choke, choke, choke, choke. Yep. And running, running over guys, too. The Edson Barbosa fight was fucking fantastic. That was a fantastic fight.

He was losing that fight, too. I remember that. That's the danger about Tony. It don't really matter if he's losing that fight in the first or second round. He keeps it together. Yeah. Yeah. And the Dos Anjos fight was amazing, too.

Beat the shit out of Dos Anjos. I mean, he's a bad man, Tony Ferguson. You cannot sleep on Tony Ferguson. That fight is amazing. I used to be like, man, this dude striking don't look like it's something that should frighten you that much. But when it's coming so often and so weird angles and then he's going for shots and he does the exact opposite of what you think you should do in grappling, and then he's in the position. And then we get there, now he's got like five or six moves from that position,

so he's like switching it here and there and there before you know it, your ass choked out. Yeah, he's something special. He's a real deal. That's an amazing fight. I love that fight. You know what I'm really interested in right now? I'm really interested in TJ Dillashaw versus Mighty Mouse. There's so much

talk about that. I don't know. I want to see it, though. Somebody's got to challenge Mighty Mouse. I would have been more interested to see Garbrandt and Mighty Mouse. Really? Yeah. I don't know why. It just looks on paper like a more interesting fight. Oh, man. I disagree. I think it's more interesting to see TJ because TJ's got

more weapons. TJ does more stuff. He throws more kicks. He's got more. I mean, you saw it in the Garbrandt fight. That's where he hurt him. He hurt him with the head kick. Yeah, I just like Cody's boxing in the pocket and his counters. Yeah. Anybody that's going to deal with DJ's speed,

got to make DJ miss, and not very many people have been able to do it. I think TJ. They both are going to be tough fights. I mean, it's going to be tough for TJ. It's going to be tough for Dillashaw. Mighty Mouse, he just has very few holes. He's, like, pouring water. This motherfucker just keep going this and that.

He never stops. I'm like, damn, dude. I got to watch him drill before his fight. Fucking did the same thing in the drill. He just did it right in the fight. I'm like, dang. No, he's special. He's special.

His ability and his ability to not get hit. He's doing something that's on a completely different level. So, like, he was trying to take down Dodson, remember? And Dodson wanted him to take a nine. He said, forget it. I'm going to grab the leg and I'm going to keep punching him in the face or elbowing him in the head. And then finally he got the takedown.

He's just, if he thinks he's smart, he's going to keep going. Excuse me, he's not going to get discouraged. He's going to keep going for it. If he was going against, who was the kid, Tim Elliott, that had him in those deep chokes, I'm like, I was freaking out. Because, you know, DJ Muhammad, I'm like, man, is he about to lose to this kid? And he said, no, I'm good.

He had me in there deep. Like, he just don't get rattled very often. No, he doesn't get rattled. He's got the whole package. He's got mental toughness. He's intelligent. His skill level is on another level. I mean, his skill level is off the charts.

He does everything. Amazing. He's a master at extreme basics. Yeah. His skill level's on another level. I mean, his skill level's off the charts. He does everything. Amazing. He's a master at extreme basics. Yeah. You know, like that's lift up, return arm bar. Yeah. Maybe one of the flashiest things we've ever seen him do. Right.

But in general, if you think about it, he comes forward and he does great fast basics from this side. He switch stance. Great fast basics from that side. Very traditional clinch. Super active with it. Hard to take down, gets up the regular way. If he mounts you, he believes, like, if a coach teaches you an armbar from the mount, in his mind, it's 100% chance it's going to work.

There's no way it can't work. So when you see him go do a regular armbar on somebody and submit him, like, you know, Horiguchi or Jamaraga, you're like, damn, how you hitting him with that armbar? Because he just don't believe in the fact that doubt in his techniques. Yeah. met him like you know horiguchi or jamaraga like damn how you hit him with that one bar because he just don't believe in the fact that doubting his techniques yeah so no it's a it's an amazing time amazing time for the sport and uh i mean it's amazing time it's just amazing time for martial arts period i mean i think martial arts right now is at the highest level that it's ever been in

the history of people fighting each other. You know, it's an exciting moment as well, because now you got so many different hopefuls. You know, we got six or seven people that they just need one more. And I don't just need one more. This person just need one more. Then they jump off and they, you know, they become superstars because we, we need more stars right now we got connor but when is connor gonna come back i think ronda might do the wwe thing john she's done i'm pretty sure i think the wwe thing is a good look i know she was at like dinner with triple h and um and our agent um slater so i hope she does that man because people can say whatever they want but

ronda rousey was she was that girl at one point. She was. And she put us all on the map in a different way and had the old lady, the 75-year-old lady at the airport talking about MMA. So she's a G. She paid our due, and I think if she want to gracefully walk into a different realm, WWE, film, I think she just produced some type of series that you know we should support her on that I agree

I agree 100% I really don't want to see her fight again I if she wants to fight again but what I would want to see

is her move to a camp that could address the entire game of MMA in a much more comprehensive way and not tell her that she's

great at something if she's really not. I would want her to go to like Matt Hume or someone like that. But who would she actually fight? She's too big of a name to fight somebody. Who would she fight? Fight someone who's coming up. Fight someone, get a tune-up fight.

Get an actual, I mean, but I don't even think she wants to fight. I mean, I think at a certain point in time, you have enough money in the bank, you have enough notoriety and fame. She's got a lot of aspirations outside the sport. She's married now. Who knows? She might want to start a family. You're right.

You're right. Listen, all I want to see is George St. Pierre versus Tyron Woodley in July. July 4th weekend. I say that's my big prediction for 2018. UFC, make it happen. Come on. Big prediction for me is that I'll fight George St. Pierre in my first fight back.

George, my shoulder's sore. It hurts, right? You can barely move. George, I can't even punch. How do you sleep? I can't punch. It's hard to sleep. I mean, George,

if you want to fight me, brother, this is the time, man. This is the time, George. You're going to get me, George, right now. Make that money, George. Make that money. And what a fight

that would be in terms of just historical significance and how big it would be. I mean, he's coming off of the win of his career, coming back four years off, beats Bisping, chokes him unconscious for the title, vacates the title, steps right in there, fights you at 170. He's a G. It would be fun. And he would exit the sport, and nobody would give him that much stuff from losing to me.

Tyron Woodley, thanks for doing this, man. I appreciate it. I'm glad we finally got in here. I know. We finally did it. Tell people, what's your Twitter handle? Check me out on Twitter, T-W-O-O-O-D-L-E-Y. Same thing on Instagram.

And, yeah, we are here. The champ, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you. All right. We are here. The champ, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you. All right.