JRE MMA Show #52 with Michael Bisping

[0] Five, four, three, two, one.

[1] Boom, and we're live.

[2] Mr. Bisping, how are you, sir?

[3] What's up, Joe?

[4] I'm good.

[5] We finally did this, man. I know.

[6] We've been talking about it for years.

[7] Feels like a lifetime.

[8] It's been quite a while, man. Yeah, yeah, but yeah, happy to be here.

[9] Quite the setup you have.

[10] As an Englishman, please explain to me the Hawaiian flag.

[11] What the fuck is the Hawaiian flag?

[12] Straight off the bat.

[13] I'm like, I was confused.

[14] I was looking at the other day when Max Holloway won.

[15] I was like, if I didn't, if you didn't know, any better and you looked at that you're like this is some strange British flag right off the bat I'm like Joe's a smart guy I've seen the podcast he goes deep on things I'm like do I need to read some encyclopedias before I come on here and the first thing you say is explain the British flag sorry the Hawaiian flag what is that well it's like a British flag claim to be an expert on the history of Hawaii I failed that class funnily enough but I would say that we colonelanized it at one point, much like America, I don't know if you know this, much like Australia, India.

[16] Yeah, Australia's got a funky flag too, right?

[17] Yeah, you know, we like to insert the Union Jack in lots of things.

[18] And you think about the size of England, how much of the world you guys kicked ass on.

[19] It's pretty goddamn impressive.

[20] It really is, but again, I'm no historian.

[21] No. But no, it is.

[22] I'm a proud Englishman.

[23] I guess our ancestors.

[24] Well, not my ancestors.

[25] My ancestors are Polish and Irish.

[26] But yeah, the British.

[27] they did okay did a lot of shit got a lot done they did you know I was at a they did a lot of terrible things I'm sure over the years yeah I remember once I was in Canada at a party of all things about 3 o 'clock in the morning as one does and I walk in and some guy starts going crazy at me the things that the British have done over the years you should be ashamed of yourself and he was causing a huge scene really screaming at me right and I mean going crazy and I'm like dude what the fuck nothing to do with me he's like you should be ashamed so in the end i said well where's your family from and you're not going to believe this he said mongolian germany i'm like fucking you're a german you're a german and you're giving me shit about my heritage okay buddy i suggest you shut the fuck up that's pretty hilarious because when you think about the history the germans way more recent oh yeah just a little bit just a little bit the english stuff is in the past let it go come on that's like with swords and arrows and shit yeah robin hood times come on Come on, come on.

[28] You know.

[29] Do you like living over here?

[30] Yeah, very much so.

[31] You know, I mean, of course, you know, you miss home.

[32] You miss friends and family.

[33] Certainly, you know, as you get older and your parents get older, you know, you do think about those things.

[34] But yeah, it's great.

[35] It's a great place to live.

[36] Your accent has tamed itself a bit.

[37] When you go back home, do they give you shit about it?

[38] I get shit all the time, yeah.

[39] All the time.

[40] They're like, what's this weird accent, Mike?

[41] And it's like this, I'm intelligent enough to adapt to the surroundings that I'm in.

[42] You know, like I'll now say tomatoes instead of tomatoes because I don't want a cute little back and forth to five minutes with the fucking waitress.

[43] Do you know what I mean?

[44] I just want to order my breakfast and go about my day.

[45] Oh my God, you're English.

[46] You know what I mean?

[47] So I'll say tomato.

[48] I'll say coffee.

[49] But when I go back home, it kind of, you know, and then working on Fox, they worked on me for a while.

[50] they're like Mike we like what we think we like what you're saying the problem is we can't understand what you're saying it seems like it's good stuff there's lots of energy there but uh you got to slow down over pronounce your words so uh so yeah it it is a little bastardized have you thought about doing commentary on ufc cards have you done any of those yet i've just done um the what is it the content the series that's it yeah that's it but but i think it's well i know it well should be coming.

[51] I've just negotiated a deal for it.

[52] Oh, okay, great.

[53] With Zach, so...

[54] Well, that's good to hear.

[55] Yeah, yeah, you know.

[56] Because you're really excellent as an analyst.

[57] Well, thank you very much.

[58] I really enjoy your insight when you're on the panel.

[59] That panel's great.

[60] That is one of the best things the UFC's done is do that post -fight show because when the fights are over, you're sitting around going, fuck, holy shit.

[61] And then to have you guys break it down and then break it down beforehand as well, but break it down afterwards.

[62] I really do enjoy that.

[63] Oh, thank you very much.

[64] Yeah, the guys do a good job.

[65] yeah it's fun you know i mean it's it's nice to be involved with the sport obviously as a martial artist as a fighter and then now retired to still you know still have a little hand in there it's it's it's nice yeah but you've made a smooth transition from being a fighter to to retired it seems at least from the outside looking in that it seems fairly smooth it's like some guys have a rocky road it's hard for them well it's because um you know i mean I want to tell the truth while I'm on here.

[66] So I will tell the truth, but, you know, I had eye injuries.

[67] Yeah.

[68] You know, so, you know, every, from when the eye injuries happened in 2013, I always felt like I was on borrowed time.

[69] So I was conscious of trying to set myself up outside of the octagon.

[70] Where a lot of fighters don't have that luxury, you know.

[71] I'm thinking it could end at any moment.

[72] So I was actively pursuing a life outside the octagon, a career outside the octagon.

[73] So then when that day came, I was good, you know.

[74] Excuse me. Some carbonated energy drink that shall remain nameless.

[75] But yeah, so yeah, no, I was working on that for a while.

[76] And yeah, things are going well.

[77] You know, there's quite a lot of things going on.

[78] Yeah, you do that podcast with Lewis Gomez.

[79] Got the podcast, believe you me. I've got a company called PlayLyme.

[80] What is that?

[81] It's a gambling.

[82] It's fancy sports, but it's fancy sports simplified.

[83] Basically, it's kind of like a sports lottery.

[84] So if we were focusing on the UFC, who's going to win, what round, how many takedowns?

[85] We do five stats.

[86] You hit them bang on, you get a billion dollars.

[87] We had the analytics groups at Harvard and Yale, come up with a league.

[88] So the top 50 people split a rate.

[89] If you get everything, you get a billion?

[90] You get a billion dollars.

[91] A one, bu?

[92] A bee?

[93] Boom.

[94] Billion dollars, baby.

[95] And we give away a million dollars every single day.

[96] Playline .com.

[97] Boom.

[98] There it is.

[99] There it is.

[100] There it is.

[101] There is.

[102] And it's blowing up.

[103] It's blowing up big time.

[104] We're just about to say.

[105] sign a deal with a couple of major sports franchises to be their official game.

[106] Wow.

[107] So that's going really well.

[108] So it's essentially like a fantasy martial arts thing.

[109] Like you just pick...

[110] No, it's NASCAR, football, MMA.

[111] The beauty of playline is you can set a play line to anything.

[112] Like we can set a play line.

[113] How many times is Bisp being going to burp?

[114] How many times are you going to get up and have a piss?

[115] How many times he's going to roll his eyes at Mike?

[116] You know, do you know what I mean?

[117] You can set it for anything, so it's very applicable.

[118] How many times, how many likes his Kim Kardashian going to get in her next post you know what I mean so it's yeah you're getting a lot of traction doing really really well very proud of it I would think if it's a billion dollars I would think it would be like some Guy Ritchie movie where some mobsters would get together with some fighters this is how we're going to do it see you're going down three times okay I've never heard an English gangster sound like the from like 1920s Chicago see this is what we're going to do see but yeah I guess No, is that hasn't, nobody's cheated yet But you know, the reason why I say this Thanks are totally undermining the system Joe Really appreciate it The reason why I say this is because this is what happened with professional pool Professional pool had a line at one point in time In Vegas casinos and the pool players all got together and said Listen, let's fucking put all our money on this guy Who's the 10 to 1 favorite to win it Or 10 to 1 underdog to win it And we'll all make money And so they all dumped and this one guy I think his name is Mike LeBron He won the whole thing The only way you could do that is if there was no stats No starts So if it was a game of basketball Everyone would just have to stand there and do nothing Right Which I would assume I mean I don't know too much about basketball But I would assume Athletic commissions Referees People get involved Somebody would say something If everyone was just standing there doing nothing Well they did with pool You don't can't gamble on pool anymore Oh really Pool players are too shady Yeah they just Well they are They're shady They're shady guys Yeah they are Anyone that plays pool in England It's because they spend so much time in pubs Exactly.

[119] You spend so much time in pubs, you're hanging out with some interesting characters.

[120] You know?

[121] Unsavery characters.

[122] Dude, you started at UFC Ultimate Fighter Season 2.

[123] How crazy is that?

[124] Three.

[125] Were you season three?

[126] Three.

[127] What season are they on now?

[128] Like, 90 or some shit?

[129] Like, what are they on?

[130] I think they just did 28.

[131] 28, but that's...

[132] Fucking crazy.

[133] But that's only U .S. They have the Brazilian.

[134] Diego Sanchez is still fucking going on it.

[135] That's what's insane.

[136] Saints.

[137] That's impressive.

[138] Season one.

[139] He's a maniac.

[140] God bless him.

[141] Good for him.

[142] Good for him.

[143] And he fucking won recently, which is even more impressive.

[144] No, I know.

[145] And he fights in a way that isn't conducive to a long career.

[146] No. But he's had one, my word.

[147] That's incredible.

[148] It really is.

[149] He's a warrior.

[150] He's such a fucking character, too.

[151] Oh, dude, he's out of his mind.

[152] In a good way, I mean, you know.

[153] I mean, that's a compliment.

[154] I do as well.

[155] Yeah.

[156] No, he's a maniac.

[157] But, uh, I mean, that guy, season one and still still going strong.

[158] No, I know, I know.

[159] Crazy.

[160] It's been a long ride for myself as well but uh enjoyed it enjoyed every minute of it was great nice to nice to leave having won the title though right oh 100 % oh how nice is that to cap it off because you had such a long career man i mean you fought the best of the best and for you to cap it off knocking out luke rock hold and then having that oh no one could take that away from you forever no for sure you know i mean i was talking about this recently i'm filming a documentary called built for this and it's about my career and they were asking about that you know how would you feel excuse me this carbonating energy drink that shall remain nameless energy drink um is it called creature or something like that creature or demon uh something like that mythological um where was it yeah scary scary scary monster there you go um no no they were asking about my fight career how would i have felt had i not won the belt and you know I mean it would have felt like it was unfinished business I wouldn't have been quite as content as walking away when I did had I not won the belt other than winning the belt and winning the ultimate fighter I'm sure but what was your most satisfying victory was it Kung Lee no no I don't know my most satisfying victory in my word oh Anderson silver Anderson so yeah that was a big one for me yeah that was a big one too because of the the cheap knee.

[161] It was cheap.

[162] I'm glad you said that.

[163] It was cheap.

[164] I mean, I'm a giant Anderson Silva fan.

[165] Yeah, everybody is.

[166] You don't get any bigger Anderson Silva fan than me, but you didn't have your mouthpiece, you were pointing to the mouthpiece, you were separated, and you took a pause, and you thought the referee was going to separate you and give you back your mouthpiece, and Anderson comes in with the knee.

[167] Well, I know the rules.

[168] There has to be a lull in the action for the referee to step in, you know, and I'm backing up, and we're not engaging in blows.

[169] To me, that's a lull in the action.

[170] Yeah.

[171] So I take that moment to point down over here and say, my mouthpiece, and as I'm down there, boom, he throws a beautiful knee.

[172] It was beautiful, it really was.

[173] Perfectly timed.

[174] Yeah, and good for him, you know.

[175] I don't hold it against the guy.

[176] But you fucking came back.

[177] Yeah.

[178] It wasn't easy.

[179] It wasn't fucking easy, I'll tell you that.

[180] That took every part of my will to continue.

[181] But you came back and won the next round.

[182] That was what is spectacularly impressive.

[183] But that's what you said What is the most satisfying win And I'd say that was one of them Of course You know beating Rockhold and winning the belt Nothing tops that But that would be the big one too Because you came in on short notice as well Sure sure But the Anderson one Because of that You know It just made the storyline so much better You know To fight through that adversity To You know Have to dig deep After winning it Oh you know I won the first Dropped him Dropped him in the second round Third round I was winning Then that happened So, yeah, no, it felt good.

[184] It felt good.

[185] Yeah, that was, I mean, that also, like, just to get a victory over that guy, when it all said and done, there's some...

[186] Yeah, listen, I'm aware that people would say, oh, but you didn't get Anderson in his prime.

[187] Well, maybe it wasn't his prime, but with the amount of shit that I talked, I certainly see a difference in the way he fought me to the way he's fought recently, you know?

[188] And it's funny because people always say, You don't worry that when you talk shit going into a fight, that you're going to motivate your opponent even more.

[189] And I always used to say, ah, no, don't be stupid.

[190] Listen, they're going to try and hit you as hard as they can.

[191] But I don't know.

[192] In that one, I think it did motivate Anderson because he was certainly not fucking about it in that one, that's for sure.

[193] No, you were...

[194] It wasn't like the Anderson in the Derek Brunson fight, that's for sure.

[195] Yeah, that was a different fight, right?

[196] Derek Brunson and him almost like, look, they made an agreement.

[197] They didn't fight.

[198] Yeah, it was a weird fight.

[199] Yeah.

[200] It's like Derek Bronson didn't want to risk anything, didn't want to engage with them too quickly or go too hard.

[201] But then you see some of his fights.

[202] He comes at you like a fucking marauder.

[203] Who?

[204] Derek Brunson.

[205] Oh, yeah.

[206] No, absolutely.

[207] I was talking about this recently with the Israel -A -Assainer fight.

[208] And I think I kind of pissed Israel off with a couple of my comments.

[209] And that wasn't my intention.

[210] I said, I said, I don't know if I'm completely sold on Israel yet.

[211] And what I meant by that, I didn't mean.

[212] sold on him being a great fighter because he's clearly a great fight it's clearly world class what I meant was sold on him being the future of the division and being the champion that's what I meant because Brunson never showed up in that fight and I mean that were the greatest of respect he was like a deer in the headlights you know he was intimidated it just been knocked out of Jackeray you know I was a little gun shy you know and it was a great performance Israel did what he needed to do but as I say you know it takes two to tango and there was only israel really fighting in that fight so when i said those comments i said i'm not entirely sold on that fight that's what i meant i didn't mean because i don't think he's well -class or an excellent fighter because he clearly is i just meant not sold on that fight whether or not he's the future of the division well it's a stacked fucking division i mean look you mean you still have joel romero at the top of the heap i don't know what they're doing with him i mean he was supposed to be fighting uh um boachina Oh yeah Palocosta Palacosta Bohachin who's a fucking monster If anybody who's not on steroids Who looks like they're on steroids It's him and you're all Romero You think so?

[213] Well It's not that easy these days With you saw But come on Some of them are on steroids Some of them probably are Joe But who's on Okay You're telling me that you don't believe that yo Romero ever took a steroid in his life I didn't say that Okay I definitely didn't say that I think it's possible It's totally possible.

[214] How's that fence you're sitting on?

[215] I get it.

[216] I get it.

[217] It's a tough scenario for you to be in.

[218] No, no. UFC commentator.

[219] I'm fucking honest, bro.

[220] If I believe it, I'll say it.

[221] And let's not forget, it tested positive.

[222] There was that whole.

[223] Anytime somebody says it was a tainted supplement, it's bullshit.

[224] You never tested positive for him.

[225] Never tested positive in my life.

[226] Let me tell you something.

[227] I'm not a guy that scours the back of everything I read.

[228] I'm a careless motherfucker.

[229] I really am.

[230] I wish I wasn't, but I am.

[231] I'll just go through my life doing what I do.

[232] do.

[233] I've been tested a million times, never come close.

[234] Okay, some of the guys, they blow up the lab, you know?

[235] There's no smoke without fire, you know what I'm saying?

[236] I agree with you.

[237] I agree with you.

[238] I remember there was talk years back, um, before you Sada, there was talk of certain camps that would hire guys who knew testing and these guys would orchestrate a program for these fighters to make sure that they didn't get caught.

[239] Right.

[240] They would figure out way, to taper off, but still keep your gains and make sure that you didn't test positive at all.

[241] And this was done under the assumption that everyone else was cheating as well.

[242] And this was, for a long time, that was how a lot of people viewed the sport.

[243] There was guys like you, BJ Penn. There was a few guys that you just knew weren't going to do anything.

[244] It was their word.

[245] They said they were never going to do anything.

[246] And they never looked like they did anything.

[247] You always maintain the exact same physique throughout your entire career.

[248] Well, the thing is, I think, where it started getting a little weird And I don't want to bang on about steroids too much Because that's been a narrative that I've over You know, I've said my piece about that I don't want to, you know, bang on about it too much But I think where the water's really got murky Is when TRT came in When testosterone replacement therapy became a thing And all you had to do was go to your doctor And said, hey, you know, I can't get a hard on Or whatever They sign you off on TRT.

[249] No, I know.

[250] Even worse, you could take steroids first and then come off of it so your testosterone was low.

[251] Oh, really?

[252] You'd go to a doctor and say, I have low testosterone.

[253] Oh, of course, yeah, because it messes up your natural production of it.

[254] This is what guys did.

[255] Guys took steroids and then went in afterwards and said they have low testosterone because they were on steroids.

[256] Sure, no, exactly.

[257] So then it became legal.

[258] And then you had all these guys coming out there saying, you know, if I'm not on TRT, I'll die.

[259] I'll die.

[260] And then they outlawed it.

[261] And then 10 years later, some of them are still fighting to this day.

[262] Yes.

[263] You know, so without naming names, you know who you are.

[264] Shame on you.

[265] Well, we've talked about TRT Belfer.

[266] TRT, Vitor Belfort forever.

[267] I mean, that was, when he was on TRT, he was a different kind of human being.

[268] He was just completely different than he is in any other circumstance.

[269] Oh, yeah.

[270] Looking back, you can see that.

[271] I mean, because when I fought him, I fought him on TRT.

[272] You fought him when he was at the Super Vitor level.

[273] Absolutely.

[274] He looked like fucking the incredible Hulk He had muscles on his fucking eyebrows Yeah looking back You can see that You know but at the time As a fighter you gotta be You can't think like that You know what I mean What are you looking at?

[275] That doesn't even do it justice No that doesn't do it justice That's supposed to be before and after Yeah I'm just recovering from a cold at the week I'm a little congested So I keep coughing The real key is That's a better one That's better That's way better That's much more accurate it and he's a guy who was known to take things I mean he took things early in his career remember when he fought Randy when he was 19 he was 240 pounds yeah yeah exactly his neck started at the top of his head yeah but um yeah I remember there was a picture of us both on the scale in Brazil and uh you know looking back now he's holy shit you know anyone else would think of this guy he's kind of big blah blah blah blah blah but you don't think like that at the time You can't as a fighter.

[276] If you start having those thoughts, those doubts, you start looking at a fighter's physique and thinking, oh, he looks good.

[277] You've already lost, you know.

[278] But in hindsight, you can look back and say, holy fuck, what was I thinking?

[279] You know, this guy's fucking roared it out of his mind.

[280] I remember on there, I was trying to get a rise out of him and he kept putting his hand in my face.

[281] I'm not a religious guy, and, you know, God bless anyone that is.

[282] You know, I mean that.

[283] I respect everyone's opinions, but I'm not.

[284] And as we know, Vitor is heavily religious.

[285] and he kept sticking his thing in my face he was pissing me off so I said Vito come here come here and he leans in and I said there is no Jesus maybe there is maybe there is me getting dropped with a head kick in the second round maybe that was God thwarting me who knows what did he say some fucking Portuguese bullshit I don't know there is the fine line between talking shit And backing it up.

[286] But you know, you did a great job of pissing people off in your career.

[287] And that plays a factor.

[288] Whatever you can do to get just them a little bit out of their comfort zone, a little bit out of their composure.

[289] And you were really good at that.

[290] Yeah.

[291] You know, I mean, I hate that to be, you know, the first thing people say about me. But, you know, it was one element.

[292] It was a thing.

[293] You know, it was what I did.

[294] And in my mind, you know, where I come from, my background, you know, if we're going to fight, then we're going to fight.

[295] And then it's all out war, you know, until it's all said and done.

[296] And if I can make you doubt yourself, if I can, you know, it's like at the wayings, at the wayings, that's the last time you're going to get a chance to stand in front of your opponent and send a message to him.

[297] You know what I mean?

[298] And if you get in his face and you can just instill a little fear, puff your chest.

[299] That's why animals do it in the wild.

[300] You know what I mean?

[301] Puffy chest out, look intimidating.

[302] look as angry as you can and some fighters might just look at that and laugh and say this ain't going to work on me but some it does and then they don't fight to the best of their ability because they're slightly doubting themselves and they're not fully committing to the punch or the kick and if they're not fully committing they're not 100 % they're not fighting as well as they can be and I'm winning that battle you know so yeah you look like kind of a thug standing up there and pointing your finger and talking shit but it's for a reason you know it works yeah it does Well, McGregor McGregor's the best at it He gets people to fold Look at Dustin Poier He didn't even show up In that first fight It's true Yeah I mean don't get me wrong He was great as well You know It wasn't just the trash talk No he's great as well I think the Nate Diaz fight Didn't it didn't work in that fight Because Nate doesn't give a fuck Doesn't give a fuck There you go Doesn't work Exactly It doesn't work He talks shit at him He's like fuck you It doesn't make him It doesn't make him feel bad at all He enjoys it I think it makes him feel comforting Yeah, well, you know, it's just another day at the office, you know.

[303] It's a thing like a lot of people would wish that fighters were respectful and just, you know, treated it well.

[304] The martial arts way and bow to each other.

[305] And that's great.

[306] It is, you know, it's funny, I was working out this morning and the gym manager.

[307] He said, you know, I said, I feel like that side of things kind of, you know, it's killing the UFC.

[308] Shut the fuck up.

[309] I'm like, you know, I nodded away and like, you know, respectful to the guy.

[310] but I see his point I understand what he's saying but it's entertainment and it gets people that's another reason why I used to do it you're trying to sell the fight you know you want you want every product you're involved with to be as popular as possible whether it's a podcast whether it's fighting whether it's whatever it is if no one's watching no one gives a fuck then you're not going to make much money you're not going to get booked again you're not going to be on the big cards I know from a consumer standpoint if I'm watching a fight I mean look at that last week with their few Yuri and Wilder.

[311] Yeah.

[312] You know, I was eating out the palm of their hands.

[313] I mean, it was an amazing fight.

[314] But, you know, it hypes it.

[315] It's great.

[316] It's awesome to watch.

[317] I mean, yes, it is beautiful to see two fighters walk up there and bow and shake hands and all the rest of it.

[318] But it's also a little fucking boring, if I'm honest.

[319] Like, when I'm working the wainshaws, I'm like, give me something to talk about, please, you know, because I don't want to talk about your boring last fight that went to a split decision when nothing really happened.

[320] But if you get in their face at the way him, great, we can pump it up a little bit.

[321] up.

[322] Yeah, when they have these press conferences and no one's being mean, I mean, half the fun is talking shit.

[323] Yeah, no, absolutely.

[324] You know, I'm enjoying myself.

[325] I'm in my element up there.

[326] It's like, you know, the famous one with GSP when he was like, are you intoxicated?

[327] You know, and it's like, well, yeah, I am.

[328] Yeah, I am.

[329] I'm in Vegas.

[330] What do you want me to do?

[331] You know, you don't want to fight until the end of the year and it's January, okay?

[332] If we were fighting in two months, I wouldn't be intoxicated.

[333] But right now I am, you know, so So, yeah.

[334] Well, there's been some hilarious moments in press conferences.

[335] I mean, the one, the giant one with the UFC, where Jeremy Stevens calls out to Connor and Connor goes, who the fuck is that guy?

[336] That was hilarious.

[337] That was great.

[338] It really was good.

[339] Honestly, every time I see that, I do laugh.

[340] It was great.

[341] Oh, he had to say.

[342] Yeah.

[343] Who the fuck is that guy?

[344] But I don't know.

[345] But I think he was actually serious.

[346] He might have been.

[347] Who the fuck is that?

[348] This guy calling me out talking shit.

[349] I'm sure he knows who Jeremy Stevens is.

[350] I don't know.

[351] You don't think so?

[352] Maybe.

[353] Maybe.

[354] Maybe not.

[355] Maybe not.

[356] I don't know everybody up there sometimes at press conferences.

[357] Yeah, you can't.

[358] You know what I mean?

[359] UFC has more than 500 fighters in their roster.

[360] Exactly.

[361] Especially when they have those giant press conferences and there's many levels of fighters.

[362] There's like 16 fighters up there.

[363] Yeah.

[364] It's impossible.

[365] Exactly.

[366] I like both.

[367] I like when fighters are respectful and I like when fighters talk shit.

[368] Yeah, for sure.

[369] I mean, I did enjoy, it was nice to see.

[370] Brian Ortega, Max Holloway.

[371] They had that nice back and forth where Max, sorry, pardon me, Brian was, you know, he's like, listen, I hope you well and I hope you're over the injuries and all that type of thing.

[372] That was nice to see.

[373] It was great.

[374] But they both were exuding confidence at the same time.

[375] They were both adamant.

[376] They were going to win the fight.

[377] So it wasn't, they weren't being too overly cordial.

[378] Yes.

[379] You know, I don't want to see that.

[380] Right, right.

[381] I don't want to see two fights pretending like they're in church or meeting the fucking president, okay?

[382] I want to see two guys that want to rip each other's head.

[383] head off.

[384] Call me an animal.

[385] Call me a barberry, call me whatever you want.

[386] But that's what gets my, you know, engine taking.

[387] Well, even when they were at the final way in and they're staring each other down, like even though it was respectful, there was a lot of tension.

[388] There's a lot of tension.

[389] You know what's going down.

[390] At the way in, I never saw that one.

[391] When they were at the way in and Max and Brian, they just stood, you know, a couple feet away from each other, staring at each other.

[392] It was intense.

[393] It was real.

[394] That was a fucking hell of a fight, too.

[395] Holy shit.

[396] He's incredible.

[397] He's incredible.

[398] It really is.

[399] Really is.

[400] I mean, I was kind of, not concerned.

[401] Well, you were the one who initially threw up the red flag.

[402] When you saw him, you just felt like he looked too tired or what did you think?

[403] He was slurring his words.

[404] He looked, he looked half asleep.

[405] He looked like he just got out of bed.

[406] That's how he looked.

[407] And then he was slurring his words.

[408] And then, so I just said, you're okay, Max?

[409] Everything good?

[410] And he's just like, you know, he was slurring.

[411] Simple as that.

[412] And I'm like, and of course, UFC tonight, you have a production meeting.

[413] We go over the questions we're going to ask.

[414] So you've got the questions there in front of you.

[415] And I thought, I can't stick to these questions.

[416] I've got to ask this guy, are you okay, you know?

[417] Good for you.

[418] I'm glad you did that.

[419] Well, you know, I felt bad afterwards because then I heard that the fight was off.

[420] And then I thought, shit, if I'd gone on, you know, two days, three days out from a fight, if I'd gone on fucking UFC tonight or whatever, just doing my obligations as a fighter.

[421] and then another fighter on the roster is calling me out for an injury and now the fights off I'd have been pissed off with them you know what I mean maybe you know that's my choice if I want to highlight it so I felt a little bad but I really respected Max he sent me a message thanking me you know he said thank you he said I appreciate that I needed someone to do that because he knew he wasn't 100 % so yeah you know so anyway I was saying I wasn't fully convinced that he was okay because it seemed like he was I don't know still slow in his words or whatever but uh he's kind of mumbler he's a mumbler yeah so am i you know so uh he's he was fine though he was more than fine dude he looked insane insane so good and ortega fired back ortega hit him with some big shots third round hit him a couple of big shots yeah at the end of the third round he's like this is my round no i saw that he told you yeah it's crazy it's crazy fucking cardio yeah his cardio is incredible through the roof you know uh excellent footwork combinations cuts angles well reads the fight that's the main thing you know what I mean he reads the fight so yeah he reads the fight and he's he's so good at implementing that strategy of like consistent pressure constant angles switching stances and he switches stances flawlessly fights just as good south paws he does orthodox and he'll switch in the middle of a combination and then turn corners on you absolutely that's right he's not there to be counted yeah he's fucking amazing man really good and when you hit him back you let claps he's like good yeah no for sure Well, remember against Ricardo Lamas?

[422] And he just pointed at the floor.

[423] He's like, come on, let's go right here.

[424] Let's stand and bang it out.

[425] Yeah, he's awesome.

[426] That was awesome.

[427] Yeah, really was.

[428] You know, it's great to see that he is okay too, but I'm really happy that you did point that out because there was some issues.

[429] And I think a lot of that probably had to do, I'm just speculating, but probably had to do with that massive weight cut.

[430] I mean, he was trying to get down really quickly to 155, which is crazy, right?

[431] Because he fights at 145, he's the champion.

[432] And even struggling to go down from in the he was in the 180s to get down to 155 quickly to fight for the Kabib fight yeah because they offered it to him on last minute sure you know when Tony tore his knee apart was that on the set with you guys were you there that day?

[433] I wasn't there I wasn't there no but yeah it was in the studios yeah what a fucking freak occurrence that was crazy trips over some wires blows his knee apart what was it the fight had been matched three times yeah and then they're almost there they're at the finish line doing the final bit of press yeah it's crazy you can't write that it's insane It's in such bad luck.

[434] It's like those guys are destined to never fight.

[435] Oh, they've got to fight now.

[436] If I could wave a wand in any match I want in that division, that's the match.

[437] Oh, for sure.

[438] Well, it's the fight that has to happen.

[439] You know, I mean, Tony is, in my mind, I'm still the interim champion.

[440] Yeah.

[441] You know, I have no idea why they stripped him.

[442] It doesn't make any sense to me. Listen, Tony's, you know, he's a character, shall we say.

[443] Yeah, he is a character.

[444] He's a unique character.

[445] character, but he, in my mind, he fought for the interim title, he won the interim title, and then he fucking blew his knee out.

[446] Yeah.

[447] You know, so, you know, listen.

[448] But he blew his knee out doing press obligations.

[449] He didn't do anything stupid.

[450] No, exactly.

[451] That's why I didn't understand that they stripped him.

[452] I was like, this guy, I mean, the guy's ready to fight.

[453] Yeah.

[454] I mean, and then a few months later, he was ready to go again.

[455] He beats the shit out of Pettus.

[456] Yeah, no, and he looked incredible.

[457] Yeah.

[458] So, I was kind of concerned in that fight as well, because it was so fast coming back.

[459] And I thought.

[460] So fast.

[461] And apparently he was doing his own rehab and doing all these wild techniques and you saw that stuff online that he was doing I thought, this guy's going to hurt himself again but now he went out there and looked amazing Apparently he didn't even do any sparring Oh really?

[462] Yeah.

[463] Interesting.

[464] I need to find this out for sure from him but the word I'm getting for people that know him is that he didn't spar.

[465] He just got it in incredible shape and he said look this knee is healing up it's in the process of healing and during his camp it was continuing to heal and the way he kept that going is don't do any taked don't get your knee wrenched don't get leg kicked well sparring is the hardest part of preparing for a fight of course well and the wrestling wrestling and sparring they're the toughest probably wrestling practice actually but find a wrestler who doesn't have fucked up knees yeah my knees are fucked not that I'm a wrestler far from me but my knees are just destroyed meniscus mostly well I think I have a torn meniscus on my good knee right now that's my good knee but my bad knee actually GSP the son of a He caused it back here.

[466] I was training for the Ultimate Fighter 3 final and I was training with George and we were training, you know, Zufa, the old Zufa headquarters did that little gym at the bottom with the boxing ring.

[467] Yeah, we were wrestling in there and my knee hit the floor, tore my PCL and then just, I don't know, one thing after the other, you know, that was what, 13, 12 years ago.

[468] And it's just always been kind of fucked?

[469] Yeah, well, I'm sitting here right now.

[470] When we finish out, when I stand, I'll limp like crazy because when I sit here like this, it just seizes up, like crazy.

[471] So if I'm in a restaurant, I stand up and I walk like a moron, if I'm going to the bathroom, I'm like, fucking look at this guy, Jesus Christ.

[472] But then I walk back and I'm walking in fine.

[473] They're like, this attention -seeking bastard forgot that he put on a fake limb when he went to the bathroom.

[474] I'm like, no, it's unseized now.

[475] It's okay.

[476] It's just when I first stand up.

[477] Yeah, a popliteal cyst.

[478] I think that's what causing that right now.

[479] Oh, so there's a cyst in there?

[480] I think so, yeah.

[481] You can get that drained.

[482] Yeah, no, I know.

[483] I've had cysts on my right knee.

[484] I've had them drained twice.

[485] Yeah, I've got to get that done.

[486] It's a pain in the ass.

[487] Yeah, it is.

[488] The last time they just went in there and just pulverized it, went in there and just kept sticking it with needles.

[489] Oh, really?

[490] Yeah.

[491] Yeah, I've got to get it done.

[492] I've got to get that.

[493] I've got to get a lot of shit, does.

[494] Yeah.

[495] My neck issue.

[496] Remember we were talking years ago in Manchester about my neck?

[497] I never got that taken care of.

[498] I mean, people didn't know.

[499] But, I mean, it was hard for me to talk about it.

[500] I didn't want to talk about too much while I was commentating your fights.

[501] injury that was so bad one of your arms was weaker than the other like if you were doing bench press oh for sure still to this day i mean you could you could take that samurai sword i don't advise it and stick it through the skin there and i wouldn't feel a thing well i don't know if i wouldn't feel a thing but i'm totally numb totally no my i had a shower after my workout before and then what i get a lot i get like the it's like i uh stinger yeah but down the entire right side i was in the shower i was uh it's happened a few time when i've been working on tv i was doing this show called Hyperdrive for Netflix in the summer and we were it was night shoots it was like four in the morning and all of a sudden I'm doing this and everyone's going oh my God I'm like it's okay calm down they're like medic I'm like no it's okay it happens all the time so yeah it's just pinch nerve you know C5 C6 I got to get it taken care of have you have you ever done any decompression or anything like that um it's all my my own fault you know I'm too old school I need to go in and have treatment on my body but it's like it's a whole thing joe i'm a busy man you know i haven't got an afternoon to go sit and you know get massage or decompressed or i need to do it i need to do it and and this year 2019 is the year that i get all these little because my quality of life is still fine you know what i mean right i just i just grin and bear it and whatever and just occasionally have a mini heart attack you know i'll be okay i'm fine But eventually, this is the year I'm going to get all these little niggles taken care of.

[502] Well, there's a company in Santa Monica called Lifesan Medicine and they do a procedure called Regenicine and that's what Peyton Manning had done over in Germany.

[503] Kobe Bryant had it done and this is how I fixed my bulging disc in my neck.

[504] Well, when I saw you there in Manchester, Dana tried to send me to Germany.

[505] Yes, and I was telling you you don't have to go to Germany you go to Santa Monica.

[506] It's exactly the same procedure.

[507] I didn't go to Germany.

[508] Yeah, I don't go to Germany.

[509] I couldn't be bothered.

[510] That's the problem.

[511] You didn't do anything.

[512] I don't want to go down and spend half an hour or half my day.

[513] I don't want to fly to fucking Germany and give it a week or whatever.

[514] It's not that much time.

[515] It'll take you like a couple of hours.

[516] You do it three or four times and they can fix it.

[517] No, I know.

[518] It'll decrease all the inflammation.

[519] The other thing is there's a thing that they sell at Amazon.

[520] You just get it on Amazon .com or a bunch of other stores online.

[521] And it's a spinal decompression harness.

[522] I've seen it on a door.

[523] Have you seen the thing where you use their, you pump it up with your hand?

[524] I saw that one too.

[525] I thought that's what you were talking about.

[526] No, that's a good one too.

[527] I haven't used that one, but I have friends that have used that one.

[528] They like it a lot.

[529] It's not bad.

[530] It's not bad.

[531] The one that I use, you hang from a door.

[532] It's a little more hardcore.

[533] Right.

[534] It's hooked up this harness.

[535] It clips to the top of the door and you crank it, click, click, click, click, click, click, click.

[536] And you're like, literally hanging.

[537] You're hanging there.

[538] Yeah, I was going to say.

[539] But it just, oh, when you get out of there, just everything feels good.

[540] I'm going to try and get one of those.

[541] And if you do it consistently, it'll decompress it.

[542] Oh, really?

[543] Yeah, you can do it in your house.

[544] I need to do that.

[545] Yeah, you can do it in your house.

[546] you know have your cup of tea my wife comes in and finds me I've committed suicide one day dangling from the fucking door frame thanks Joe yeah it won't kill you it won't kill you but it's um it does it does feel good and it's the only way that I know to really stretch your neck out that way yeah yeah no I do need to do that I try and do it in the sauna was it wrestling that did your neck as well yeah for sure for sure yeah in fact I remember it I was going for a take down and I think I ended up headbutting the floor yeah that's a lot of it what happens yeah yeah What was that?

[547] There was one of the fighters from Alpha Mail.

[548] He shot in for a takedown and the guy went for a guillotine and he spiked himself.

[549] Right.

[550] And then just never walked again.

[551] Oh, never walked again.

[552] Oh, wow.

[553] Yeah, poor guy.

[554] He came paralyzed.

[555] No way.

[556] Yeah, because as he shot, you know, he went in deep on the armpit.

[557] The guy went for the guillotine so his head is trapped and all their weight together.

[558] Sure.

[559] You know, feet up in the air, the whole deal, power double.

[560] Yeah, no, of course, yeah.

[561] And then you've got two body weights going on your head.

[562] The neck, as the pressure point, if you will.

[563] Derek Lewis, who has the funniest Instagram of all time for sure.

[564] Absolutely.

[565] Put one on yesterday of a girl, I think she's dead.

[566] She twerked, and she twerked standing on her head, and then she twisted her neck, and then her whole body seized up, stiff as a board.

[567] Well, I'm glad you and Derek find it funny.

[568] I'm sure this poor woman's family is...

[569] I hope she's okay.

[570] Yeah, yeah.

[571] I really do.

[572] I hope she's okay as well.

[573] But, you know, if she's not, there's nothing you do about it now.

[574] Well, no, there isn't, no. Yeah.

[575] Maybe we won't take the piss out of it on a podcast.

[576] You've got to look at Derek's Instagram on a daily basis because a lot of the stuff gets taken down.

[577] Oh, really?

[578] Yeah, yeah.

[579] I'm surprised he hasn't been banned yet.

[580] You know, no. I follow Derek for a while.

[581] He's awesome.

[582] He's hilarious.

[583] He's so funny.

[584] He really is.

[585] He doesn't give a damn.

[586] No. Doesn't care.

[587] See, that's the thing.

[588] You know, I see things.

[589] People send me things, you know, guys from back home.

[590] I got some things this morning, you know, but they're massively offensive.

[591] Right.

[592] You know, and I have a little chuckle in private, you know.

[593] I'm not going to put that shit on Instagram.

[594] I'm not going to put it for the whole world to see.

[595] What is this?

[596] Is he doing a movie or something?

[597] He's doing a movie, I think, but then I think somebody the other day said, when John Jones sneezes on you, I saw somebody put that caption.

[598] Oh, John Jones.

[599] He's an interesting character, huh?

[600] Oh, yeah, yeah, for sure.

[601] The big comeback, it's going to be a tough fight, man. That's a big fight.

[602] Gustafson is no joke.

[603] I love the way they size up, too.

[604] The way they match up against each other.

[605] See, maybe that's why John struggled a little bit the first time because he's not used to fighting somebody with the same frame, the same physical attributes that make John so great Alex also has.

[606] Yes.

[607] And what was his last fight?

[608] Was it Tischer?

[609] I think it was.

[610] He looked amazing in that fight.

[611] Sensation.

[612] His hands were so fast.

[613] so fast the combinations he put together they were beautiful really really good the final chaos was like a video game sequence oh dude it was incredible it really was it really was I mean I think in a lot of ways that was like what we were looking at with Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder like two guys who'd never fought anybody that size before they're both fighting giants both fighting these really tall guys well I know you had both guys on the show and I listened to a little bit of yesterdays with Deontere when I was picking my son up from wrestling but when I watched that fight I sorry not when I watched it prior to the fight happening I thought Deonté was going to win okay even though Tyson is a very very good technical boxing for such a big man used a lot of feints and a lot of misdirection and he's very good I thought Deontes probably going to catch him but then when I saw that he weighed in at 212 pounds I said it's over there's no way 2212 pounds it's too much of a weight disparity it's insane but yeah still got that knockout power man unbelievable he said he weighed 2 .09 when he got into the ring yeah I heard you saying that 209 yeah as a fucking heavyweight it's insane well that's what I thought I thought this guy is too light yeah he's like a twig the 6 foot 7 209 crazy it's crazy it really is that fucking 12th round KO or the no lockdown that was insane it really was like Teddy Atlas said it best He goes, he's like fucking Thor with a hammer.

[614] But, I mean, all respect and credit to Tyson Fury, forget now.

[615] Fuck.

[616] I mean, I know there was all that talk and Deonté put it on his Instagram about it not actually being 10 seconds, about it being over 10 seconds.

[617] But still, it is what it is.

[618] It might have been over 10 seconds on the clock, but the referee, it's not the fighter's job to make sure that it's 10 seconds on the clock.

[619] It's not Tyson's Fury's job to monitor a stopwatch in the corner and say, hey, Ralph.

[620] we're at 10 no he hasn't said 10 and he gets up fight still on you know there's no telling that he couldn't have got up on the actual 10 he probably could have gone up at the actual kind of 10 as well but just the way he got up and then managed to win the round well that's what really impressed me I wasn't the biggest fan of Tyson Fury a few years ago I don't know we had some stupid back and forth on social media on Twitter but what was it about He was saying that some Gypsy John Whoever he is knocked me outside of nightclub in Blackburn But the only problem with that Is it supposedly at the time When I was living in America So anyway, so it didn't happen I've never been knocked out Outside of Nightclub in my life But apparently, according to Tyson It did happen So I wasn't, you know, overly thrilled But I've got to say Over the last six months Or even the year You know, he really, really won me over What he overcame, losing all that way, going through that depression or a slump, whatever you want to call it, and then coming back and looking so good.

[621] And then afterwards, you know, the Post -Fight speech, I thought was beautiful.

[622] Yeah.

[623] Donating all this money to charity.

[624] All of it.

[625] It's just insane.

[626] It's only a $10 million to charity.

[627] If you can't respect that, then you've got a serious problem.

[628] So I applaud the guy and I'm a huge fan.

[629] Yeah, I respect the shit out of both of them.

[630] and I think that what happened with you was during his cocaine days so he was coked up and drinking like a fucking fish he was probably out of his mind when he said that yeah yeah exactly who cares who cares he went through a dark time but you know what's fascinating to me is that he pulled himself out of it not just pulled himself out but wants to pull other people out too sure no absolutely and again you know donating all that hard earned money hard earned money and you know you could have just given a million Yeah, I never would have thought that was amazing as well That would have been a huge PR stone But no, he gave it all And that speaks volumes about the man I mean, he even said, I don't need it You know, he's a gypsy He doesn't need it He's probably made enough money to retire already Yeah, he's had some big fights Sure, the Klitsko fight Yeah, and the rematch will be even bigger Oh, the rematch is going to be gigantic They're talking about it somewhere, April, May, June Somewhere around then Yeah, that's going to be fucking insane Yeah, one of the best boxing fights I've ever seen me as well yeah it really was incredible i felt like it was uh it looked like Tyson was outboxing him and you know using a lot of faints a lot of movement a lot of misdirection a lot of let that perky jerky style that's what he does until he got caught that's how he confuses people but then when he got clipped and dropped it was like oh you know i thought he was going to get caught with the left hook because i was saying because we were um there was the ufc adelae card on at the same time yes and we were at the fox studios and when the fox did sorry the UFC deal with Foxes up, they switched to PCB, Pacific Coast boxing, of which Deonté Wilder is one of their guys.

[631] So in the room where we were watching the Adelaide card, they've got the fucking Deontelow Wilde and Tazin Fury fight on.

[632] Now, I've got to talk about the Adelaide card in detail and break it down and this and that.

[633] But there's one of the greatest heavyweight boxing fights you've ever seen in your life going on that screen over there.

[634] So I'm like this watching.

[635] And doing this.

[636] It was crazy.

[637] It was crazy.

[638] And anyway, but as I was watching it, obviously Deonté was looking for that big right hand and Fury was doing a very, very good job of rolling away from it, just avoiding that shot.

[639] And I said, if he follows out of a left hook, he's going to catch him.

[640] And eventually that's what happened.

[641] That was exactly what it was.

[642] And he caught him as he was going down, which is even more spectacular.

[643] I think he clipped him with the first one.

[644] Clipped him with the right hand, then caught him with the left hook as he was going down.

[645] And the fact that he got up after he was flat on his back his arms are down I think six out of ten referees would have stopped that fight right there they would have waved it off oh for sure yeah no he looked for a moment he looked dead yeah he looked out sorry pardon me he didn't look dead he looked knocked out he looked unconscious for a few seconds and then the lights came back on I know if he came it's interesting when a judge or a referee rather has a decision to make whether or not they decide to stop a fight and it's one of the more frustrating things ever when a referee stops to fight prematurely, it's rough.

[646] But then when you look at a fight like the Adonis Stevenson fight this weekend, and I don't remember how to pronounce the Russian gentleman's name, it's with a GZ, the guy who knocked out.

[647] So I didn't see this, but Adonis is in hospital and critical condition right now, correct?

[648] Yes, yes, and he's undergone brain surgery.

[649] He's got, apparently he's got bleeding on the brain, and it was a good knockout, but it wasn't particularly, it wasn't insanely vicious.

[650] Yeah, so when you looked at it, you didn't think this guy's going to have issues, yeah.

[651] He sat up, he got up, they're like, he looks like he's okay, and it looked like, you know.

[652] But that's the problem with boxing.

[653] You know, I think, what is it, 12 to 15 deaths per year in boxing around the world.

[654] It's a very, very sad start.

[655] I guess, you know, I mean, you're involved with the UFC, you know all the pro -MMA dialogue that's put out So, you know, well, boxing is more dangerous because it's only punches to the head and they can take more blows.

[656] But that is the thing that you can't take more blow.

[657] It is true.

[658] Yeah, for sure.

[659] The slightly bigger gloves, you can take more shots, which has, you know, a more damaging effect on the brain.

[660] American football versus rugby as well.

[661] Rugby's a better safer sport.

[662] Yeah, which is crazy because there's no pads, no helmets, no nothing.

[663] Right.

[664] But, yeah.

[665] But it's a better safe for sport.

[666] I don't know if anyone's ever died in rugby.

[667] It's not something that I hear about.

[668] It's not a narrative.

[669] I'm sure if someone's probably died.

[670] Yeah, no, for sure, exactly.

[671] It's a tough sport.

[672] But I don't think it's a thing.

[673] No. But unfortunately, I mean, you see, I mean, the poor guys, you see kids at high school.

[674] Yeah.

[675] It was one on the news, I think, a couple of years ago, close to where I lived down here.

[676] And, yeah, heartbreaking.

[677] I would never let my kids play football.

[678] My kids wanted to fight.

[679] I'd say, look, you're going to learn how to fight correctly.

[680] But if you want to play football, get the fuck out of here.

[681] Yeah.

[682] It's just too many guys running at you, full clip, clashing helmet to helmet.

[683] Well, that's the thing because they're young kids.

[684] Yeah.

[685] The young kids, and, you know, I remember when I was that age, you think you're invincible, excuse me. Pardon me, you think you're invincible.

[686] And certainly then you put on this giant helmet.

[687] Yeah.

[688] And you think you can just charge him with your head.

[689] You know what I mean?

[690] And unfortunately, that isn't the case.

[691] Well, we've gone over some of the most recent statistics that they've released on CTE with football players.

[692] And they're talking about from Pop Warner to high school, the college to professional, the number, like, across the board, the number that exhibits CTE, symptoms is staggering.

[693] It's the vast majority.

[694] I'm sure it is.

[695] Yeah.

[696] It's crazy.

[697] It's a fucking nutty sport.

[698] Rugby's better.

[699] It's a better sport.

[700] It's a better sport.

[701] What, in terms of?

[702] It's a, to me, I think it's more exciting.

[703] I used to play rugby.

[704] I used to love rugby.

[705] I was a pretty good rugby player when I was younger, but it's surprising to hear that from an American, you know.

[706] I don't watch football.

[707] I love an American, you know, with a big American flag behind you and you got the fucking, what are those?

[708] What is that?

[709] A wildebeest?

[710] No, that is an Asian water buffalo from Australia.

[711] That was my next guess.

[712] Is it the wildebeest or the Asian water buffalo?

[713] That's from me good mate Adam Green Tree, who shot that sucker and brought it over for me to give me a little decoration.

[714] But that's an invasive species in Australia.

[715] They shoot them out of helicopters.

[716] Oh, really?

[717] They have to kill them.

[718] They don't have any other than crocodiles.

[719] Well, there's no meat or flesh on it, but if that thing had meat and flesh and bones and was running at me, I'd shit my pants.

[720] fucking gigantic animal.

[721] Yeah, look at the size of those horns, man. It's a huge animal.

[722] Oh, and I can only imagine.

[723] A couple thousand pounds.

[724] Cows, they're gigantic.

[725] Well, they have cows over there that are wild.

[726] They're called scrub bulls.

[727] Right.

[728] But you know how, like, we see a rodeo rider rides a bull, and the bulls are like, get the fuck off me, kicking crazy?

[729] Well, that's because they've got testosterone and giant balls, and they're fucking super aggressive.

[730] You never see a bull in the wild.

[731] Dude, I used to work at a slaughterhouse.

[732] I used to slaughter a house.

[733] The size of those fucking bulls would scare you to death.

[734] Hammered.

[735] I wasn't looking at the cocks.

[736] I know that I'm saying their balls are like a fist.

[737] Yeah, yeah, no, no. When I was 16, I come from a small town and one of the local employers is the slaughterhouse.

[738] And any young loser like myself has done a stint at the slaughterhouse when they need a job, you know.

[739] And I went in and I was squeege him up in blood into the drains.

[740] I was like, what the fuck is it?

[741] So I said to the forum and I said, listen, I could be a. have more used to you than this?

[742] He said, let me think about it.

[743] So I went off, had my break, had my bacon sandwich, came back, and he's like, yep, you're right, you're a good kid.

[744] I'm going to make you an apprentice slaughterman.

[745] I was like, holy fuck, that's not what I was looking for.

[746] And talk about shocking.

[747] Oh, I'd never seen anything like it in my life.

[748] It was insane.

[749] Insane.

[750] And I'm offending all the vegans and animal lovers.

[751] I'm an animal lover, big time, you know, but you've got to make ends meet when you're a kid living in a small town.

[752] Yeah, yeah.

[753] So how did you slaughter them?

[754] Well, they line up single file and eventually they come into like a little cubicle like this and you're standing above them and as they come in you push a button, a door drops down and they're in this confined environment like a big rectangle, like a big cubicle and you're raised up and you have this bell and you touch the head and then you knock it on the head that shoots a bolt.

[755] It falls down and falls into the wall.

[756] Then you push a button and the door slides up and the cow rolls down so you run down the steps and as you're running down you grab what's called a piffing rod it's like a eight foot long flexible piece of plastic it's in sterilized liquid you pull that out as you run down then you put your knee on belly you put your knee on the head of the cow you feel for the hole you just made in the hair then you get the end of the piffin rod you push it into the hole you feed it all the way in until it's all the way until it's about this much out the top of the head.

[757] How long's a rod?

[758] About eight foot.

[759] Eight foot.

[760] And you feed it all the way because it goes down the spinal column.

[761] So you're pushing...

[762] You're killing all the nerve endings.

[763] Whoa.

[764] Eyes are popping out of his head.

[765] The thing's fucking kicking like a maniac.

[766] You've got your knee on it.

[767] You're like...

[768] Then you pull that out.

[769] Put it back in the sterilized thing.

[770] You get a chain.

[771] Put it around the rear foot.

[772] Push a button.

[773] Strings it up.

[774] Pull out your knife.

[775] Here to here.

[776] Guts.

[777] Elevator doors like the shining.

[778] Blood everywhere.

[779] Next one.

[780] Run back upstairs.

[781] Next count.

[782] Let's go.

[783] And if you're not quick, they're like, motherfucker, let's go.

[784] Come on.

[785] 500 a day.

[786] I was such a posse.

[787] I was such a little bitch.

[788] I couldn't do it.

[789] I'm like, fuck this.

[790] Fuck this.

[791] I can have nightmares when I go home.

[792] I did it for about two weeks.

[793] And I'm like, yeah, I'm out.

[794] I'm out.

[795] See you, buddy.

[796] Too disturbing?

[797] Way too disturbing.

[798] And the people that work there are a little disturbed as well, you know?

[799] I would imagine you get a little twisted.

[800] A couple years in a job there.

[801] I mean, I think they were fucking with me because I was a kid right you know like because obviously from there then they get you know the chain sword in half and they start looking like meat you know they go up and they take a bite yeah take a bite Mike it's in a quiet taste you know they would eat it raw they were just doing it to fuck with me you know what I mean a little 16 year old kid wet behind the years but uh yeah I didn't know that they stuck a rod through the hole in the brain all the way through the spinal yeah it's pretty shocking yeah I've never even heard of something like that yeah piffing rod that's what you call it wow i wonder if that's standard practice still today because i've never i've never seen i've seen some awful pita slaughterhouse videos yeah yeah but you they die quick though it was weird they die instantly very very quick yeah they get through nothing one day i couldn't do it now there's no way i could do it now as when when you're young you know yeah your morals changes you get all the your feelings or your values change i couldn't do it now what if that was the only source of some meat.

[802] Well, if it was my own sauce of meat, then the motherfucker's dying.

[803] You know what I mean?

[804] Yeah.

[805] But I'm not a, I know you're a big hunting guy.

[806] I'm not a bit, well, I've never been hunted in my life.

[807] But if you're going to eat it to live, then, then good for you.

[808] Of course.

[809] You know, it serves a purpose.

[810] Yeah.

[811] Well, I became a hunter because of those videos.

[812] Which videos?

[813] Those PETA videos of slaughterhouses.

[814] Oh, really?

[815] Yeah.

[816] I don't want to have any part of that.

[817] Oh, no. Well, exactly.

[818] No, no. I respect that.

[819] I do.

[820] I'm not so much into their, well, I detested trophy hunting and things like that.

[821] You know, I know that's a...

[822] No, no, I'm not into it either.

[823] I mean, I don't understand the desire to hunt something that you're not interested in eating.

[824] Yeah, I mean, these rich businessmen flying out to Africa and, you know, shooting a majestic beast or an elephant or a lion from a distance.

[825] There's no honor in that.

[826] There's no honor in shooting a lion even from close up.

[827] Yeah, but from a distance, hiding in the bushes and pulling a fucking trigger.

[828] You think that makes you a man?

[829] You think that, you know?

[830] The only way that makes sense to me is if you're in a part of Africa where lions are consistently killing your livestock and you have to protect your livestock, which is Colorado, there's a big issue with mountain lions and a lot of it, Wyoming.

[831] There's a lot of places that have hunting seasons on mountain lines because of that.

[832] Yeah, I wouldn't say there's hard and fast rules for everything, different environments, different situations that you need a different approach.

[833] Well, you know that Cecil, the lion thing and that whole story that went down and you know what happened i'm pretty if you remind me i think i know about it i remember here something about it a famous majestic lion that was in this park and the the lion left the park and went into this area where it's legal for them to hunt and a hunter who's a dentist from america shot this lion right and uh everyone became very mad at this guy because the lion had a collar on it which meant that there was a line that they were tracking the thing is they can't see the collar when they're trying to shoot it they have this giant mane there's no way you're gonna see where was this dentist from somewhere in america yeah so he's a fucking asshole yeah you know so what it was in my territory where i'm allowed to shoot yeah all right gray area i guess but the fact that you're flying out to fucking africa to shoot majestic beasts for me that that's a weak excuse it is and this is come from a guy that you just fucking kill 500 cows a day here's where it's fucked up for a week and I was an apprentice.

[834] I didn't really do it very often.

[835] When the backlash hit and all these people were furious at that guy and then no one wanted to go over there and hunt lions.

[836] So because no one wanted to go over there and hunt lions the lion population exploded, when the lion population exploded, the undulate population all the antelope and all those dropped radically.

[837] So the wildlife biologists made an assessment that they had to kill some lions.

[838] So they killed, I think they wound up killing 200 lions and just dumping their bodies.

[839] Whereas the money would have gone for those 200 lions they would have gotten $50 ,000 for each lion if a hunter had taken them and then what they have done they take that money they pour it back into conservation it's a very messy business sure absolutely you know and then there you go there is the the argument for it yeah but it's a tricky argument and I don't have the answers and I'm not educated enough to really sit here and debate it or really cast any kind of opinion on anyone really I just shooting an animal from a distance I'm not a fan of that's about it.

[840] You shoot most of them from a distance.

[841] You kind of have to.

[842] Yeah, no, for sure.

[843] Like, if I shoot an elk up close, that's a real problem.

[844] Oh, yeah, no, absolutely.

[845] You're going to.

[846] And I'm not talking about you going out and I've seen your videos on your barbecue.

[847] It looks fucking delicious.

[848] I'm sure it's great.

[849] I'm sure it's awesome.

[850] I have no issue with that.

[851] I have a cookie some.

[852] Please, I would love to.

[853] You'll eat it and you go, holy shit.

[854] I'm sure I will.

[855] It doesn't taste like anything else, man. I love meat.

[856] I bet you do.

[857] I'm a carnivore.

[858] I'm a carnivore.

[859] For sure.

[860] But yeah No, you're right The argument for it You can make the same argument for people Hey, we'll keep these people healthy We'll just kill a couple of them Well, there you go, exactly How about I have these really rich people Come over from Germany They spend $100 ,000 and they'll kill a few poor people And the rest of the poor people They're going to get all this money There'll be more houses for them all Right now there is enough accommodation For everybody to live in Let's just slow, let's just cool We just have a few hundred thousand Let them loose in the hills We'd chase him with bows We'll just kill a few of these people.

[861] It's tricky.

[862] You know?

[863] It's not good.

[864] We'll kill some of the rapists and murderers coming off of the border.

[865] Job solved.

[866] And then the other problem is even the animals, it makes sense to harm.

[867] I don't think there's rapists and murderers coming over the border, by the way.

[868] Let's probably a couple.

[869] Let's be honest.

[870] There's a few.

[871] Most of them are just poor folks and want a better way.

[872] No, for sure.

[873] And no shame on that.

[874] Well, you're an immigrant.

[875] My family's immigrants.

[876] I mean, we're all product of immigrants.

[877] It's whole fucking.

[878] Yeah, of course.

[879] Unless you're Native American, you should probably shut the fuck up.

[880] 100%.

[881] Yeah.

[882] There you go.

[883] Yeah, yeah, yeah, no, that's totally right.

[884] Yeah, no, I know.

[885] That's the funny thing.

[886] I'm like, really?

[887] Here.

[888] Fucking, show me a third generation American in this country.

[889] They're hard to come across.

[890] They are.

[891] You know?

[892] Everybody I meet out here claims to be English when I meet them.

[893] Oh, yeah, my fucking auntie's English or Irish or they all claim to be Irish.

[894] You guys love to claim an Irish descent.

[895] Really?

[896] Oh, yeah.

[897] Is this recent?

[898] Is this because of Connor McGregor?

[899] You guys fucking love to claim.

[900] My mom's Irish.

[901] My mom has an Irish.

[902] accent, okay?

[903] She fucking talks like Desmeagle, right?

[904] She's Irish as they come.

[905] I have never once claimed to be Irish.

[906] There you go.

[907] Is what I say to everybody.

[908] They're like, oh yeah, I'm Swiss.

[909] I'm Italian.

[910] I'm this.

[911] Does anybody in your immediate family talk with an Italian accent?

[912] No?

[913] Well, shut the fuck up because you're American.

[914] Okay?

[915] And that's okay.

[916] Yeah.

[917] That's okay.

[918] Be proud of that.

[919] Yeah.

[920] You're not English.

[921] Just because your great, great, great, great grandmother grew up in Ipswich or a Gloucestershire or somewhere.

[922] It doesn't make you English love.

[923] So your kids' kids, your kids' kids will be American.

[924] Oh, yeah.

[925] Well, yeah, basically.

[926] We got green cars recently, so yeah.

[927] Oh, nice.

[928] How does that work?

[929] Do you have to mind your peas and cues if you get in trouble over here?

[930] They ship you back?

[931] I guess.

[932] That's tricky, right?

[933] That's one good thing about being American.

[934] I'm okay.

[935] You know, 20 years ago it would have been an issue.

[936] But these days, I'm fine.

[937] gentleman.

[938] I'm a gentleman.

[939] I'm a fine gentleman, Joe.

[940] Come on, man. You're a businessman.

[941] Jeez, come on.

[942] You're a gayfully employed.

[943] You're an expert commentator.

[944] You've got a podcast.

[945] You're doing movies.

[946] It's all over the place.

[947] A lot of shit's happening.

[948] Yeah, we're good.

[949] Don't have to worry about you.

[950] We're not hanging out in bars getting knocked out by gypsies.

[951] They were the old days.

[952] You are getting into the movie business, right?

[953] You've been doing a few movies.

[954] Weren't you doing a movie during the time you were doing the Rockhold fight?

[955] That's right.

[956] Yeah, I was filming Triple X. Yeah, yeah.

[957] I've been out there for about three months.

[958] I was flying home and I was looking for some walkie -talkies for my seven -year -old.

[959] I don't know why.

[960] I thought that would be a good idea.

[961] Turns out getting hold of walkie -talkies isn't very easy these days.

[962] I went on a fucking wild goose chair trying to get these fucking walkie -talkies that didn't even get played with.

[963] It was like, yeah, cool, I've got a phone, dad.

[964] I'm like, yeah, I should have thought of that.

[965] But as I'm looking for it, then I checked Twitter.

[966] I got a coffee and I see Chris Wyman and pulled out.

[967] So, yeah, I text Dana.

[968] I said, listen, if this is true, you know where I am and he was like oh great we love that you know blah blah blah blah blah but jacqueray is our first option so I thought for a minute there I thought I was getting a title shot and I thought there's no way jackeray is going to turn it down so I went to my buddies Jason's house and watched a basketball game and had a few drinks and you know didn't party as such I was on set the next day but I had a few drinks now if I knew I was fighting for a world belt in two weeks you know I would have been on a strict diet not overindulging but I definitely overindulged and then the next day I'm walking into the gym just have a little light workout and my phone starts exploding lighting up like a Christmas tree and I'm like what the hell and then Ariel Hawani calls me is like Mike Dana just announced a sports centre that you're fighting for the belt I'm like what?

[969] What the fuck?

[970] This is the first I heard about it I'm like fucking Dana God bless him so I'm like oh shit so I'm panicking like crazy how much did you win so that's the first thing I did I ran into the changing room We got on the scale.

[971] I was like 2 .15, 2 .16.

[972] Is that rough?

[973] Yeah, for sure.

[974] Yeah, I like to be...

[975] What do you like?

[976] A week before, I like to be 200 pounds.

[977] So this is two weeks before.

[978] I'm, um, I'm, um, I'm 250.

[979] So I'm like, shit.

[980] Screw the weights.

[981] I need to run.

[982] Right.

[983] So I just run out at the gym.

[984] Throw my backpack on my shoulders and just, I'm sprinting through Toronto City Center like a madman.

[985] Of course, there's traffic lights every 30 seconds.

[986] Right.

[987] So I don't want to stop at the traffic lights because that's no good.

[988] So I'm just running out, nearly getting run over by taxis and jumping over homeless people falling over ducking and diving it was great training and then dana called so i'm negotiating you know the fight whilst running through toronto and then uh carried on going and then i end up like in the middle of nowhere just running and running and running and then jason prillow gets on the phone and uh you know all the doubt starts creeping in i start thinking jesus christ it's so typical of my career i've won in a title fight my whole career you know been through many ups and downs and now here I am I get the title fight it's on two weeks notice I've been filming a goddamn movie I've been near a gym MMA gym for a while doing anything and it's against somebody that's already beating me so I'm kind of destined to fail this is so fucking typical and then Jason got on the phone and you know he talked to me around big time you know I said a lot of very positive things Jason's an amazing coach it really is it's incredible he really is there's a lot of there's a lot of trainers out there there's a lot of pad men, you know, there's a lot of fakers in mixed martial arts, certainly these days, you know, I mean, guys that really have true heritage in martial arts or any kind of steep history in combat sports, they're few and far between.

[989] You know, you can train, any guy can watch a video, and it's a little bit of coordination how to hold pads.

[990] And you see them.

[991] It's all the craze isn't it these days, hitting pads to get fit, you know, one, two, left, talk, woo, you know, just because you can do that and hold pads doesn't make you a right does not make you a coach and there's a lot of fakers out there but jason is not one of them he speaks from the heart and he knows what the fuck he's talking about and we had a good chap and by the end of it i was i was feeling a lot better and uh yeah so when you were filming that movie were you working out at all i was doing vanity workouts i like to run certainly when i'm in a city so i was running probably three or four days a week a four point two mile run Not too bad, so you're doing something.

[992] So I was running and I was lifting weights a few times a week, you know, biceps and shoulders.

[993] You know what I mean?

[994] Yeah, chest pressed.

[995] Lots of chest press.

[996] You know what I mean?

[997] And then GSP's coach, Jorge Blanco, do you know Jorge?

[998] No, I don't.

[999] He's a very, very good trainer.

[1000] Richard Evans put me on to him whilst I was up there.

[1001] I went to see him like two or three times, you know.

[1002] But no, not training as such.

[1003] But, yeah?

[1004] Just a little bit of.

[1005] exercise but sometimes that's good anyway right so it gives your body a chance to recover well that's what i said afterwards because i went into that fight feeling so strong feeling so good i'm like because i i consistently overtrained every single fight in my career apart from that one uh and i said oh i'll learn from this i'll learn from this and you don't and it's like jason prillow always says um it takes confidence to take a day off to rest the body you know and now of course there's a line between having the confidence to take a day off and being a lazy bastard and saying, I'm going to sit on the couch today.

[1006] Right.

[1007] You know, but if you know, listen, I'm good, I'm going to take a day or two off because I need it, you know.

[1008] So that was one of the mistakes I made with my career.

[1009] I always trained too much.

[1010] And Jason said, you know, I used to mind fuck myself because it meant so much to me, you know.

[1011] My fight career meant so much to me. I used to overcomplicate it, overanalyze it, overwork it, stress myself out with it, you know.

[1012] And that was hindering my performances.

[1013] You know, I never once fought to my ability of what I performed in the gym.

[1014] Never once.

[1015] I remember one day I pulled up outside Ruka.

[1016] And Jason was waiting for me outside.

[1017] And I pulled up and he says, Mike, come here.

[1018] Come here.

[1019] Come me have a quick chat.

[1020] I said, yeah, what's up?

[1021] He said, listen, a bunch of good guys in there.

[1022] Okay?

[1023] He said, but you're a fucking world champion.

[1024] Can you go in there and spar these guys and act like a world champion?

[1025] They're here.

[1026] you're up there.

[1027] Act like it.

[1028] Don't go in, lose your fucking temper.

[1029] Spas out, stress out, act like a dick, say things you regret.

[1030] You know, when the sparring's not quite necessarily going your way, you know, you get a little pissed off or whatever, you know, say your jiu -jitsu coach is catching you and tapping you out a little bit and you start getting a little frustrated.

[1031] You say, can you just, you know, can we have none of that, please?

[1032] And great advice.

[1033] Just like when I was fighting for the belt, when I flew home from doing that movie, I went straight to the gym when I landed.

[1034] And Jason said to me, because I was always stressed, you know, and he said, listen, we don't know if you're going to win this fight, Mike.

[1035] You know, fingers crossed, I believe in you.

[1036] I believe you're going to win this fight.

[1037] But we don't know if you're going to win this fight.

[1038] So this might be the only time you're ever going to fight for a world title, right?

[1039] I said, well, yeah, possible.

[1040] He said, well, let's enjoy the process.

[1041] You know, let's go through this with a smile on your face.

[1042] He said, this is huge.

[1043] He said, you're in a position that everyone would kill to be in.

[1044] You're fighting for the championship.

[1045] You're fighting for the belt.

[1046] You wanted this your whole life.

[1047] Enjoy this.

[1048] You know?

[1049] And it was such amazing advice.

[1050] Because I was like, yeah, you're right.

[1051] And I went through the whole thing with a big smile on my face.

[1052] When you clip Rockhold, I remember thinking, holy shit.

[1053] When I see Rockhold's legs buckle and I see him stagger backwards, I was like, holy shit, he got him.

[1054] And then when he stumbled against the cage and you bashed him and stopped him, I got to help but laugh because it does bring a smile to my face Almost like I couldn't believe it It was like a movie It was like it was one of those things Because you were a big underdog coming to that fight Everybody knew you took it on short notice Everybody knew that you were working on a movie And so for you to land that When you landed that left hand You missed it once before too And I remember thinking Man that is fucking close Like that's close Like you saw this opening for that left hand And you clipped him over the top of the shoulder He didn't see it coming and bang, you drop that left hand on his chin and you see his eyes rolled back and his legs give out.

[1055] Fuck, man. Well, that was the whole plan, the left hook.

[1056] You know, Jason had seen that he was open for that and I'd seen he was open for that.

[1057] And he was even doing this exercise on these bands and like resistance bands, whatever.

[1058] He was doing this and his chin was up and his right hand was down at the end of it.

[1059] And Jason said, he's drilling these moves here and he's finishing here, the left hook all day long.

[1060] And, you know, he's coming forward and we're exchanging punches and nothing really significant as landing and I just right hook to the body just whip the left hook and you know as a fighter when you land the good shot because you get the feedback on your fist there's nothing like it you know what I mean when you feel that that solid connection and the knuckles go through the glove you know and you feel it you're like oh that was a good one and then he falls down and then he falls down and then he gets back up and like fuck you boom back down and then And he went down and obviously he's got very good jiu -jitsu and he was kind of sat back against the fence and I thought I've got to be careful not to go in his guard but yeah I got the finish felt.

[1061] The best feeling I've ever felt in my life was big John McCarthy's gigantic forearm nearly pulling my head off my shoulders as he wrestled me off him.

[1062] Because he knew it was over.

[1063] Because I knew it was over.

[1064] It was great.

[1065] What did that feel like when you knew you did it?

[1066] One of the best feelings in the world.

[1067] One of the best feelings because Because, you know, for me, you know, the amount of fights I've had is unbelievable.

[1068] Professionally and unprofessionally, you know, when I was a kid, that's all I was.

[1069] You know, that was my only identity as being a fighter, you know, and just being that guy, you know, unfortunately, rightly or wrongly.

[1070] Well, it's wrongly.

[1071] You know, of course it is.

[1072] You know, I was a fucking idiot when I was a kid.

[1073] I was fighting so much.

[1074] But that's what I clung to, you know.

[1075] I was a fighter.

[1076] and that was the only thing that I could draw pride from, you know.

[1077] And becoming the world champion, knowing that everybody wrote me off, knowing that everyone talked shit about me, you know, other fighters, just, you know, it was everywhere.

[1078] I heard what people always said about me, do you know what I mean?

[1079] So to win like that in style in the first one, yeah, yeah, it felt amazing.

[1080] There it is right there.

[1081] Oh, yeah, yeah.

[1082] Rockhole was very, very.

[1083] very upset.

[1084] Yeah, he was, yeah.

[1085] You know.

[1086] You talked a lot of shit to him even after you beat him.

[1087] Well, hold on.

[1088] My wife was behind me there and she deserves a shout out because if it wasn't for her, none of this would have happened.

[1089] But with Rockhold, with what happened after the fight, so I, okay, there's a few things that I regret that happened after the fight.

[1090] First of all, I jump on the fence and I'm just so worked up, I scoot, no, fuck you.

[1091] Whatever, no big deal.

[1092] I'm not too concerned about that one.

[1093] And then as I'm doing my victory dance, if you will, I do a lap of the octagon and I cross paths with with Luke, pardon of me and I'm like hey you know you say whatever you say you know unlucky but you know good fight whatever blah blah blah blah blah I said that and I carried on having my moment I was just out of my mind on adrenaline and just having a great time and then I found myself I'd done an entire lap of the octagon again and I was passing him again so I just thought I'd extend my courtesy one more time I'm like yeah you know and I put my hand out and he said I already should your hand.

[1094] I'm like, oh, really?

[1095] You're still going to be a dickhead?

[1096] He's like, yeah, I already shook your hand.

[1097] So then I was like, okay, well, now the gloves are off.

[1098] I said, don't worry, buddy.

[1099] You're in an octagon.

[1100] You've just been knocked out.

[1101] It's okay.

[1102] You'll figure it out in a minute.

[1103] Don't worry about it.

[1104] You'll come too, bud.

[1105] You'll be good.

[1106] So I kind of look like an asshole because people didn't see that.

[1107] He refused to shape my hand the second time.

[1108] You know, I was like, well, go fuck yourself then.

[1109] And then when you gave me the microphone, when you gave me the microphone, I said the most crude comment ever, I'm like, I've been fighting ever since I came out of my mother.

[1110] I'm like, whoa, that is not an image that I want to portray to the world when I win the world belt.

[1111] You know, what I meant was ever since I've been born, you know, but in the moment, you know, the words escaped me a little bit.

[1112] And I painted a rather disturbing image of my mother giving birth to me. But yeah, yeah, I didn't choose my words too carefully there.

[1113] But yeah, no, it was great, man. Well, you can't be held accountable for that.

[1114] I mean, that's, there's no one that's ever going to be able to understand that other than someone who wins the title.

[1115] Yeah, no one's going to know what that felt like.

[1116] It's impossible.

[1117] It was incredible.

[1118] It really was.

[1119] It really was.

[1120] Yeah.

[1121] I can only imagine.

[1122] It was good one.

[1123] It was good.

[1124] I'm just happy that for you, you know, having a chance to see all your fights and see your career go for as long as it went, that you did go out with the title.

[1125] That is, that is a nice thing.

[1126] Yeah, you know, I mean, as I say, that was for me. I'm not sure well well I wouldn't have retired I wouldn't have retired yet you know yeah yeah no no because I know I could still do it I can still fight now you know I can still but but the time was right you know and then I started having issues with my good eye as well after the Gastilin fight so I'm like you know this isn't worth it how was your eyes now because you you had oil in one of your eyes protected can explain how that was going on yeah so when I detached my retina they did what's called a slurral buckle If you've watched the surgery, it's absolutely disgusting.

[1127] But one of the things that they do, they put gas inside your eye.

[1128] And I think if I'm getting this wrong, I apologize to all doctors, but it kind of helps hold the retina in place.

[1129] But you can't fly with that.

[1130] And I was filming a movie in England a few weeks later.

[1131] I said, and I said, you can't do that.

[1132] I said, I'm filming a movie.

[1133] And they went, okay, there's another way we can do it.

[1134] It's a little more unconventional.

[1135] We can put oil inside there.

[1136] but then with that you can fly so okay cool do that so uh they did that uh yeah you know it's and then it redetached and then i got glaucoma i just had a lot of bad luck i did whatever can go wrong with an eye trust me i went through it but it looks different now yeah it does yeah but it looks better than it looked before it looks great yeah what did you do it looks great don't worry about it joe oh you don't want to talk about it No, no, you're good, you're good, it's okay.

[1137] It's a corrective lens.

[1138] Oh, okay.

[1139] It's a corrective lens.

[1140] It's a prosthetic.

[1141] So can you see well out of that eye?

[1142] I see a tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny bit.

[1143] Oh, really?

[1144] Yeah, so I don't really see out of it.

[1145] And the vision's very blurred.

[1146] I mean, I was able to pass the test, to be able to clear by a commission to fight, you've got to have 2 ,200 vision, which I was able to scrape by with the skin of my teeth.

[1147] Wow.

[1148] You know, so, and my doctor was always amazed that I could still see to that amount.

[1149] If I, if I squinted in the right direction and I turned here and the light was just right, I could just about make out 2 ,200.

[1150] Wow.

[1151] So, but what happens is then, then, because you're seeing two different images, distorted images, so your brain cancels the distorted one, you know, so.

[1152] But the depth perception remains the same?

[1153] No, death perception's a real issue.

[1154] Yeah, yeah, you know.

[1155] It was an issue throughout my last few fights.

[1156] For me, the main thing, I mean, as I say, you know, I was cleared medically by the doctors and, you know, the UFC were very, very on top of all of that.

[1157] The UFC, you know, sent me to a number of different doctors and whatnot.

[1158] And as I say, I passed the test just, but it was, and every time I did, the doctors were like, we don't recommend that you fight, you know.

[1159] Of course.

[1160] 2 ,200 vision.

[1161] It's still clinically blind.

[1162] Really?

[1163] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[1164] So, but, but yeah, yeah, there you go.

[1165] That's fucking crazy.

[1166] Yeah, but it never slowed me down.

[1167] It didn't slow you down.

[1168] That's what's crazy.

[1169] Looking back now, looking back now, if I, not that I sit there at night and get drunk and watch my old fights, I've never done that once, but if I ever do see some old fights back, which occasion just happens by chance, you know, afterwards, I'm always calling for a shot at the belt or whatever.

[1170] I said to my wife, I said, what the fuck was this guy thinking?

[1171] You know what I mean?

[1172] He's out of his mind, you know, absolutely out of his mind.

[1173] time, quitting and trying to not become the champion did not even occur to me for a split second.

[1174] Giving up, never even occurred to me for a heartbeat.

[1175] Why is that?

[1176] Is this how you've always been?

[1177] Does this something you've cultivated?

[1178] I still felt that I could, I could win it, simple as that, you know.

[1179] But a lot of guys, if they had lost most of the use of one of their eyes, would have been done.

[1180] Yeah, for sure.

[1181] No, no chance.

[1182] It's not worth it.

[1183] Yeah.

[1184] No, I know.

[1185] And probably the smart thing to do would have been one of those guys.

[1186] But for me, you know, it meant a lot to me. I wanted to become the champion.

[1187] I knew I could become the champion, contrary to popular belief.

[1188] And this is me. It was my identity.

[1189] And until I won that belt, I wasn't happy.

[1190] Now, when I won it, my wife said she wanted me to return.

[1191] When I fought Luke in L .A., she said, if you win, I want you to retire.

[1192] I said, babe, if I lose, then I'll retire, okay?

[1193] Because fair enough, I got my title shot, you know, it didn't go my way, it is what it is.

[1194] I would have had closure on that.

[1195] I said, but if I win, you had your fucking mind if you think I'm going to retire.

[1196] Come on, I'm the champion of the world, I've got to milk it for a little bit, finally earned some decent paydays, you know, so yeah, but it all worked out.

[1197] Well, the big fight with GSP.

[1198] Oh, yeah.

[1199] That's why that took place, because you had that belt.

[1200] Yeah, you know, I mean, I mean, George beat me fair and square that night, but there was a lot going on and going into that camp that the final week, and again, I never said anything at the time because God bless George and he's a great guy.

[1201] And I respect the hell out of George.

[1202] I really do.

[1203] How can you not?

[1204] You know, I mean, I know I talk to all that shit leading into the fight, but that was just me having a laugh.

[1205] You know, I was literally having fun with it.

[1206] You know, no really will towards George.

[1207] It seemed like you were enjoying it.

[1208] Yeah, I was just having fun, just busting balls, you know.

[1209] I think George is incredible.

[1210] I think George is the consummate professional.

[1211] He's inspiration to all aspiring martial artists out there.

[1212] If there's one man, you can model your career on the way he trains, the way he looks after his body, the way he cross trains.

[1213] George St. Pierre would be that man, you know.

[1214] He's an inspiration to myself, you know.

[1215] So nothing but the greatest of respect.

[1216] But people, as we said at the start of the show, that doesn't sell.

[1217] People don't want to see that.

[1218] People don't want to see that.

[1219] So I'll play the bad guy.

[1220] I've been portrayed as a bad guy my entire career by the UFC, the editing, you know, I've fallen foul to some creative editing I've fallen foul to my own mouth as well at times so, you know, come on, you know, I'm my own worst enemy as well but...

[1221] The week before the fight.

[1222] Yeah, a week before the fight had the best training camp in my life, you know.

[1223] Sounds braggy, but knocking out multiple sparring partners not on purpose.

[1224] It just felt incredible.

[1225] Felt absolutely incredible.

[1226] Final sparring session, we had My Protein, they'd flown in for a photo shoot or someone else there for a photo shoot.

[1227] The gym's absolutely packed and we got some guys in there sparring me and, you know, everybody wants to be the guy that gets the takedown or whatever or gets to submission on the guy that's, you know, that's how it is.

[1228] That's why I don't like going to too many MMA gyms when I was fighting because every time you walk in you have a target on your back.

[1229] Anyway, it was the final.

[1230] round we've done five rounds it was a Friday before the fight and this guy shoots in shooting a double leg runs me all the way across the octagon like his life depended on it picked me up slam me down and his shoulders went right into my ribs and I felt it instantly just all the cartilies just tore completely and I just started swearing and screaming out fuck fucking you know because I knew I knew I went I saw a doctor and whatnot and yeah it wasn't good so I I got treatment every day and I was having ice on me and all that type of stuff but it wasn't working so what we came up with this plan I was going to inject myself with lida cane before the fight because it will numb you but the problem is the area where it was was you can pierce a lung where I have to go in you can pierce a lung and bleed to death because you turn on bleeding yeah so I got this doctor and I was going to I had the needle I had the lighter cane and I was going to fucking go in and sneak into the toilet and FaceTime the doctor and he was like okay and anyway the whole thing it was just too on top it was it was bullshit I was like fuck this this is the stupidest plan ever bullocks to it I'll fight with the sore rib a bit of adrenaline and you're not gonna feel it anyway which I didn't on the night you know but people said oh you didn't look yourself in there you weren't moving too much I said yeah no shit I couldn't move but as I said hey all credit to George God bless him he did great Did you, was this a sparring partner that you had sparred with regularly?

[1231] No, he came, uh, Dean Amasinger, great guy, um, just came in from England for the last couple of weeks.

[1232] So was Dean who took you down?

[1233] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[1234] I know Dean very well.

[1235] Yeah, you know Dean, yeah.

[1236] Yeah, fucking Dean, the prick.

[1237] I love that dude.

[1238] Dean, what the fuck, dude?

[1239] Yeah, no, he's a great guy.

[1240] Dean's awesome.

[1241] He's great.

[1242] Yeah, he's great.

[1243] You know, it's the way it goes.

[1244] You're training and, yeah.

[1245] What are you going to do?

[1246] Fuck.

[1247] So many fights.

[1248] That was Hafeld Los Angeles when he was supposed to fight McGregor.

[1249] Like last.

[1250] The last sparring, kicks an elbow and breaks his foot.

[1251] Oh, so that's why Diaz came in?

[1252] Yeah, yeah.

[1253] This happened to so many guys.

[1254] It's such a fine line.

[1255] Because you feel good.

[1256] You've trained so hard.

[1257] You feel great.

[1258] And you think, oh, like, your coach will say, okay, let's call it there, guys.

[1259] We're good.

[1260] Call it there.

[1261] And you're like, I don't know.

[1262] I feel good.

[1263] Come on.

[1264] Let's get one good one in.

[1265] Because sometimes I normally train a spa, Monday, Wednesday, Friday.

[1266] And if the Wednesdays spa goes really well, you're like, let's end.

[1267] it there because you want to end on a really good spar.

[1268] You know what I mean?

[1269] Because you feel like a world champion.

[1270] You feel great.

[1271] You know, you remember how you handled all your sparring partners and whatever good shots you landed and you didn't really take any damage.

[1272] That's a great momentum to go into the fight with.

[1273] And you don't know if you have another sparring session it's going to go like that.

[1274] You know, you might be tired, you might be worn down.

[1275] Those guys might be on the game that day.

[1276] And if you get a tough sparring session, well then you want to do one more because you can't go into a fight after getting your ass kicked in a sparring session.

[1277] You know what I mean?

[1278] That's not good karma or energy to go in there with.

[1279] So it's always a weird one.

[1280] It's a fine balancing act.

[1281] But, yeah, there you go.

[1282] Do you, when you look back on your career, would you have done anything differently in terms of the way you prepared?

[1283] Yeah, for sure.

[1284] For sure.

[1285] A lot of things, yeah.

[1286] Yeah, you know what I mean?

[1287] Like, if you have a time machine.

[1288] Yeah.

[1289] And you'd shoot yourself back to season three.

[1290] over again, I do way more things.

[1291] What would you do?

[1292] Well, one, I wouldn't balloon up in between fights.

[1293] Discipline between fights, you know, I didn't exercise enough of that in between fights.

[1294] Yeah, a little too much, you know.

[1295] These days, I look after my body way more now than when I was fighting.

[1296] It's so fucking hypocritical, you know, it's so silly.

[1297] Now I'm, well, because now I don't have the luxury of going through a fight camp to get in shape.

[1298] You know what I mean?

[1299] So now I've got to stay in shape.

[1300] as that whereas in the past i'm like yeah whatever i'll have a pizza i'll have a few beers i'll have a dessert i'll do i'll i'll eat whatever i want and then when i'm in training camp switch it on but but it's not good for the body so that that would be one um yeah many things many things you know i don't really want to throw anyone under the bus or whatever but yeah training wise there's things i would have changed you know there was a group of people that i was involved with in england for a while definitely wouldn't have wasted my time with those fucking assholes.

[1301] Did you get clear of all that legally?

[1302] No, not yet.

[1303] Still going on.

[1304] This Friday, there's another hearing in the courts.

[1305] Yes, Jesus Christ.

[1306] Lots of lies.

[1307] Lots of lies.

[1308] But this has been going on for, what, eight years?

[1309] Yeah, something like that.

[1310] Yes, it's 2011.

[1311] I remember you telling me about this when we were in England together.

[1312] Yeah.

[1313] That was a long time ago, man. It was a very long time ago.

[1314] Yeah.

[1315] What are you going to do?

[1316] There's a lot of scumbags out there, people that want to take your money.

[1317] It's hard for young fighters, too, when they get contractually obligated.

[1318] to someone that doesn't suit them later in their career but then they start becoming successful and they're still contractually obligated to those people that they started out with it's a very common issue with fighters Yeah well for me I wasn't contractually obligated I kept my mouth shut I did my five years and moved on but they saw it a different way so they came out with some totally fabricated nonsense about camp bills going back to 2006 they just created invoices and just totally fabricated an entire case not a single human email not a single signature nothing it's laughable that it even got this far but if you've got brass balls on you and you're willing to stick to a story and talk a lot of shit and lie you you can you can go a long way it seems but i don't want to talk about that too much because uh i'll probably end up getting fucking sweet again you thought about training fighters i would love to yeah i really would love to because i feel this was one of my issues as i was a coach sorry part of me as a as a fighter because believe it or not you know i mean i retired at 39 years old um and at the time i had the most fights in the ufc and you know and whatever believe it or not i know a thing or two about how to prepare for a mixed martial arts fight you know so that was one of my conflicting things always with my coaches i not that i didn't respect them but i i would always kind of feel maybe i should be doing this or should be doing that and and that's what i would do a lot of the time i was like kind of like the head coach i mean jason prilla was probably the head coach but I would like be the one that did the program and need to work on this I'll see that guy on that day right you know so yeah I would love to I would love to right now I've got a lot of things going on and life is good so I don't really have the time to dedicate myself to it right and actually I'm kind of enjoying just well I'm still working for the UFC doing the you know the fight coverage stuff but it's enjoyable to be doing something different you know after being submerged in it totally submerged for so long it's refreshing to be doing something else you know yeah so but but one day I would love to for sure well you're seeing it with fighters there's some of them that are making those transitions into training and who better to know what it's like to prepare for a fight than someone like yourself who had so many fights in the UFC I mean if it's almost like that knowledge and experience is almost wasted or at least goes the the experience of how to prepare kind of goes away if you you if you don't pass it on.

[1319] Otherwise, someone has to go through all the stuff you've been through to learn it.

[1320] Yeah, absolutely, Joe.

[1321] And that's partly why I do want to do that.

[1322] When the time comes, as I say, it wouldn't be fair to anybody right now because I haven't got the time to commit.

[1323] I'm working on some things and hopefully they'll come off and I've got some free time and I can sit on my ass.

[1324] You know, everyone's always like, oh, congrats on the retirement.

[1325] I'm like, fucking retirement.

[1326] I'm working harder than ever these days, you know?

[1327] Maybe I need to come out of retirement to get some free time back, you know?

[1328] But when the time comes, I would love to do that.

[1329] That is the best case scenario, though, your situation, because you've retired into a very profitable career, whereas there's a lot of fighters, they're lost when it's over.

[1330] They don't know what to do.

[1331] Always scared me. Yeah.

[1332] Always scared me. Good for you.

[1333] Good for you for thinking like that.

[1334] It terrified me right from day one.

[1335] So I left school at 16, you know, no education like a fucking idiot.

[1336] That's one of my big regrets in life.

[1337] Small town boy, you know, northwest of England, Not a lot going on there.

[1338] Beautiful little town, but, you know, tiny little town.

[1339] Not a lot of opportunity and just fell into a rut, you know, working minimum wage in factories, you know, from seven in the morning until six o 'clock at night, just doing mundane, medial shit, you know, and I hated it.

[1340] I hated it.

[1341] I really did.

[1342] And that's why I became a fiery ultimately.

[1343] And it was a very well -planned decision, you know, the whole story to me coming.

[1344] to do this was it didn't happen overnight, you know, there was steps to it.

[1345] What was your first discipline?

[1346] I started doing Japanese Jiu -Zitsu when I was eight years old and I was obsessed with it.

[1347] So that's how you knew how to clear the sword.

[1348] Yeah, yeah, yeah, I was obsessed with Japanese Jiu -Jitsu really?

[1349] It's great.

[1350] I was doing, see, we didn't know it was MMA back then, but we were fighting M -M -M -A.

[1351] We called it Knockdown Sport Budo.

[1352] If you Google it, you can bring it up, you can bring up some of my fights.

[1353] Knockdown Sport Budo.

[1354] Yeah, which is M -M -M -A, bare -knuckle and we have like these international tournaments against you know men I was about 15 something like that at the time but yeah so we do tons of that stuff when I was younger you know I was as I say obsessed for martial arts and pretty much won every single tournament I ever went in and then on top of that I was a little shit out and about as well so I was having plenty of fight experience and then as I say just dead end job after dead end job after dead end job and I got to a phase in my life.

[1355] I met my wife Rebecca and we had kids.

[1356] I was like, is this it?

[1357] Is this all that life is going to be?

[1358] You know?

[1359] And then my boss at work at the time, Mick, he said to me, you're a pretty intelligent guy.

[1360] Is this what you want to do for the rest of your life?

[1361] And I'm like fuck no. He's like, oh, here we go, here's one of them.

[1362] This is wild.

[1363] Yeah.

[1364] This is like some fight club shit.

[1365] I mean, even the seedy, dark -looking background, the weird lighting.

[1366] This is like a scene in the movie.

[1367] Came out through fire.

[1368] He walked through fire you walk through fire to get here oh Jesus you did walk through fire actual fire oh it looks like smoke and lights there's another one actually which is true to my scoot ahead on this this is wild the way you guys are dressed and everything yeah I to this day think that fights should be held in this sort of a scenario where there's a large open open air place like a basketball court I just feel like the cage is such a factor in fight no it really is it really is and it allows I mean you can use the there's one more on there if you can find it Jamie which is pretty funny and Joe got a good laugh at and so will everybody else because I guess the early Michael Bispin was on display we bow at each other and I kick him in the face right off the bat but you know the referee had said fight yeah the cage you can use it as a you know it's another weapon you can stall on it you can lean on it you use it to stand up it's a fact It's a huge factor in the UFC.

[1369] And unnecessary ones.

[1370] And it's hard to see sometimes.

[1371] If you're in the crowd and you've got to post there and these guys are brawling, you wind up looking at the screens.

[1372] Yeah, no, absolutely you do.

[1373] You know, I was having, me and Lewis on one of our episodes recently, he was saying, you know, usually when I'm front row at the fight, I'll hold on a minute.

[1374] Whenever you ever been front row at the fight for one, because he was saying, I prefer the first riser.

[1375] I'm like, okay, well that's what everyone says that they can't get front row tickets, okay?

[1376] You all say, oh, I'd rather be on the first riser, you know, because you're saying, I'd rather be on the first riser, you know, because you're saying, you know, because you're.

[1377] You haven't got to get a sore neck looking up.

[1378] I said, well, guess what?

[1379] When you're from around, it's fucking cool, okay?

[1380] You can hear the punches.

[1381] You can see the blood and the sweat.

[1382] If the first riser was good, I'd be doing commentary from there.

[1383] If the first riser was great, that's where all the celebrity, watch this.

[1384] Look at this.

[1385] Bye.

[1386] Oh, Jesus Christ.

[1387] That was fine, in my opinion.

[1388] He said, fight.

[1389] What is he wearing?

[1390] He's wearing wrestling shoes?

[1391] Yeah.

[1392] The old head scissors, classic.

[1393] There is a video on flow grappling from a recent jiu -jitsu tournament where a guy got a guy on a head scissors to put him asleep.

[1394] Right, yeah.

[1395] Right from his guard.

[1396] Yeah, well, I won a couple of, like, shitty grappling tournaments.

[1397] With the head scissors?

[1398] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[1399] It fucking works, man. Yeah, if you can squeeze hard enough, yeah.

[1400] It wasn't against the best competition, though.

[1401] The guy might have been 55 or something.

[1402] It's still legit, though.

[1403] Yeah, if you get the knees on the right part of the neck and squeeze like a bitch, it hurts.

[1404] And especially if you practice it.

[1405] I feel like the head scissors is something like, look, you think about when you're cinch in a dars, right?

[1406] Or when you go under for a dars and you clamp a hold of your hands and you pinch down.

[1407] Some guys are expert at that right?

[1408] Oh, absolutely, yeah, sure.

[1409] They develop that sick squeeze, that six clamped down.

[1410] If you just constantly drill that all the time, you could fuck people up with that.

[1411] Just get better at it.

[1412] Just get better at it.

[1413] Like, everything else.

[1414] You could.

[1415] But I don't want to be the guy going for a head scissors in the UFC.

[1416] And it was like, fucking Bismid, with his British wrestling.

[1417] Look at him doing their head scissors.

[1418] It's like the worst.

[1419] Women going for the head and arm.

[1420] You know in women's MMA, you try a head and arm.

[1421] Yeah.

[1422] As a man, they're going to take you back and choke you out, simple as that.

[1423] Well, women's MMA.

[1424] And Liz Karmouche.

[1425] She was, Rhonda's thing was always get that headlock and then hip toss, get a girl to the ground and then, you know, get her in an arm bar.

[1426] Why does that work on women, but not men?

[1427] Neck strength, probably.

[1428] Yeah, but their heads and necks are even smaller so they could slide out of it easier.

[1429] I don't think it really work.

[1430] I think what we saw in the Ronda Rousey fight with Liz Karmouche took her back and almost choked her out for that.

[1431] And if Liz was the Liz of today, she probably would have choked her out.

[1432] Sure.

[1433] You know, she just wasn't quite experienced enough at the time.

[1434] I think the reason why you're seeing it more in women's MMA is because although the level is very high with like Valentina Shvchenko and Yacek and Cyborg, the level of the champions is very high, there's still the lower levels nowhere near.

[1435] You could watch a guy on an undercard that's fighting on Fight Pass who's a fucking world -class demon in the UFC who's a man. The women, you're still, there's way less of them and the competition is not as strong.

[1436] Yeah, I mean, they haven't been doing it as long.

[1437] The talent pool isn't as big.

[1438] Right.

[1439] You know, women aren't as interested in it.

[1440] I was just about to say the percentage of men interested in pursuing martial arts and mixed martial arts as opposed to the percentage of women, way lower.

[1441] Right.

[1442] I don't know what the percentages of men.

[1443] we said it's 50 just for the sake of the argument.

[1444] Women, it's going to be 5%.

[1445] Yeah, if that.

[1446] If that.

[1447] It's 5 % probably men.

[1448] If my wife said, Michael, I'm going to start training because I want to be an MMA fire.

[1449] I say, pack your bags, get out.

[1450] I say, shut the hell up.

[1451] Make me a sandwich.

[1452] What are you talking about?

[1453] Come on.

[1454] Fucking, you're going to be an MMA fighter.

[1455] Oh, wow.

[1456] Watching the mother of your children get head kicked.

[1457] It's crazy.

[1458] So my tie boxing coach, I actually.

[1459] You mentioned Vinnie Shoreman at the start.

[1460] He used to be in business with Vinny.

[1461] Das Morris, very, very good friend of mine.

[1462] He was my tie boxing coach.

[1463] Shout out to Vinny Shorman.

[1464] Shout out to Das Morris.

[1465] That too.

[1466] And his girlfriend, he was cornering his, you know, the mother of his children.

[1467] She was a tie boxer, Cassie, and shout out Cassie, no disrespect, you know.

[1468] But to be cornering your loved one that you're in a relationship and she got knocked out cold in a tieboxing fan.

[1469] I was like, wow, Das, how do you do that?

[1470] And, you know, the mental strength to understand that this is a different relationship.

[1471] She's the student and the teacher, and this is just the way it is.

[1472] I mean, that takes a lot.

[1473] I don't think I can do that.

[1474] It's incredible.

[1475] Well, it takes a different kind of woman to want to do that, right?

[1476] That kind of woman, you got, I mean, the worst thing I think you could ever do is take a woman who wants to fight and tell her no. Sure.

[1477] Yeah, because she's going to find a way.

[1478] Like, if you're dating Valentin or the other.

[1479] Well, good luck with that.

[1480] Good luck with that.

[1481] Good luck with that one.

[1482] You're going to get spinning cakes to.

[1483] the midsection, to the balls, okay?

[1484] She's a fucking monster, isn't she?

[1485] She's great.

[1486] She's awesome.

[1487] Quickest spinning back kicks I've ever seen.

[1488] There's not too many, and I say this with the greatest of respect to women's mixed martial arts, and I respect to everybody that applies themselves and is willing to get off a couch and make something of their life.

[1489] So, you know, I'm not being overly judgmental.

[1490] But there isn't too many that I really get excited for and that really thoroughly enjoy watching.

[1491] you know because as we just said the level of skill isn't quite there yet right you know as I say it's nothing to do with genders right why do I want to see a watered down product if I can see these guys doing it at such an extreme level I don't really want to watch smaller people that can't hit as hard with lesser technique you know what I mean as I say nothing to do with gender but obviously there's a few exceptions to the rule and Shevchenko Janjachech Amanda Nunes Sibborg there's definitely amazing talent out there really is It's just a smaller pool It's a smaller pool Like that fight this weekend It was sensational John Jek and Valentina That was a very very high level fight Oh it really was It really was yeah Yeah and Young Jake impressed me You know Because she had a I think it was a tough Three rounds Fourth round You know She probably might have aged That fourth round You know So it's impressive That she still had the fight In her So late in the fight Valentina is just too strong Too big A grappler and yeah Yeah, and bigger.

[1492] Physically bigger.

[1493] Like you see her back, the traps.

[1494] You can see it.

[1495] When they're against each other, Janjajek's very slim, very slender, and she's, Shevchenko has muscle on her.

[1496] Well, Shevchenko was successful at 135.

[1497] There you go.

[1498] That's a big gap between 35 and 115 where Janjic is changed.

[1499] And the reason Jan Jekic went up to 125 is because she couldn't get her belt back at 115.

[1500] And I say that with the absolute greatest of respect, you know.

[1501] Well, a lot of it was the weight cut was crushing her.

[1502] And then she didn't have to cut weight for 125, but the, On the flip side, you're fighting a bigger, stronger woman with Valentina.

[1503] No, exactly.

[1504] If she was fighting another straw weight went up to 125, maybe things would be different.

[1505] But that was always on paper a bad matchup.

[1506] Yes, I agree.

[1507] In my opinion.

[1508] Yeah, it went down the way I thought it was going to go down.

[1509] Yeah, same here.

[1510] There's a lot of fights.

[1511] But the main event, man, the main event was one of those fights where I was like, I don't know.

[1512] I don't know.

[1513] Max and Ortega, yeah.

[1514] I was like, if Max, if it goes to the ground and Max gets caught up something.

[1515] I mean, Ortega's got the nastiest fucking submissions in that featherweight division.

[1516] Absolutely, yeah.

[1517] I mean, I didn't know.

[1518] I mean, as I said, I favored Max.

[1519] I thought Max was going to do it, but...

[1520] I did as well.

[1521] There's just something about Brian Ortega, I mean, just looking at him, he looks like a fucking killer.

[1522] You know what I mean?

[1523] And he's big for the division, he's calm, he has that presence, you know?

[1524] I don't know, he has just going to look on his face that wants to snap your neck off at a moment's notice.

[1525] He's going to learn.

[1526] He's going to learn from that fight.

[1527] Of course.

[1528] A lot, a lot going on that fight to learn from in terms of his movement in terms of just trying to handle Max's barrage and the pressure that he puts on you well he's only young so that should be a massive motivator for him because when you go away and you win fights it's great there's no better feeling than winning fights and I'm telling you this like you don't know but you know this but you know when you're winning fights it's great and you go away you don't really change anything because everything's going good you know but when you lose then you're like okay shit I don't want to make a habit of this was he undefeated I think he was undefeated that was his first loss so now he's going to say okay what can I do to ensure that I don't start getting more losses you know he wants to be the champion like my first loss was to Rashad Evans and then I remember on the day um day of the waiting he was uh sat in the sauna killing himself doing his usual thing and the team that I was with that shall remain nameless back then they all wanted to eat Chinese food so I was like trying to order the most healthiest thing in the Chinese restaurant that I could, so I was eating noodles and drinking fucking Sprite, you know, on the day of the weighing.

[1529] Jesus, correct.

[1530] Because when I was at 2 .05, I didn't cut weight at all, you know, so I remember, you know, and I still weighed in.

[1531] Another time when I fought hell of Sinicay, well back in the day, it was my first fight in Manchester, and I was getting tickets for everybody, you know, loving it really, loving the attention, it's my first time, you know what I mean?

[1532] I'll get tickets.

[1533] Talk about a fucking pain in the ass.

[1534] It was a lot.

[1535] Pending tickets is a pain in the ass.

[1536] Oh, my God, because you've got to get the.

[1537] money off the people then you've got to get the ticket then you've got to do the transaction this is day of the fight you know what I mean I remember being on my knees day of the fight with hundreds of tickets and cash everywhere I'm like oh my God why did I do this oh no sorry it was the day of the Wayne pardon of me okay anyway and I was so stressed out with it and I drove home I thought I was sleep in my own bed night before there night before sorry it was a night before the way pardon me and I'm driving home and I was so stressed out and I was hungry I hadn't eaten all day because I I forgot.

[1538] I was too stressed.

[1539] And as I'm driving along the freeway.

[1540] I don't really eat Burger King, but I saw the sign for Burger King and I was starving.

[1541] I thought, fuck it.

[1542] So I pull off and I get a triple wopper with cheese and bacon, fries and a large Coke.

[1543] Wow.

[1544] And I'm sitting there.

[1545] And you know the noise that it makes when you get to the bottom?

[1546] That sound.

[1547] As you went, what am I doing?

[1548] I'm fucking weighing in tomorrow.

[1549] Holy shit!

[1550] Because I'm so stressed out with the goddamn tickets.

[1551] I forgot all about it.

[1552] I'm like, crap.

[1553] So fortunately, I just stepped on the scale, no problem.

[1554] And with Richard Evans, same thing.

[1555] I just stepped on the scale.

[1556] So after that, I was like, okay, what can I change?

[1557] Well, I'm not making the sacrifices.

[1558] I could be, you know, to be as successful as possible.

[1559] So that was, you know, moved down to middle of weight.

[1560] And Ortega, you know, he's not going to drop weight.

[1561] He doesn't need to.

[1562] No, he doesn't need to.

[1563] He can work on some things, you know?

[1564] He can learn.

[1565] Simple as that.

[1566] Yeah, he most certainly can.

[1567] I mean, he's got tremendous jiu -jitsu.

[1568] And his boxing is very good as well.

[1569] But, you know, when you experience that kind of a fighter, when you experience that kind of a champion like Max Holloway, you understand that there's areas where you're exposed.

[1570] There's areas where you have holes and you have areas where you can't compete with him and as successfully as you have been with previous fighters.

[1571] So that's a learning experience, and I'm sure he'll be better because of it.

[1572] I would say because of the third round, then, yeah, you know, he certainly made it competitive in the third round.

[1573] He landed a couple of good shots.

[1574] Because I was going to say, you know, in some circumstances, it doesn't matter.

[1575] You can go away, work your ass off, you're never going to beat that guy.

[1576] Right.

[1577] You know what I mean?

[1578] All the work, all the coaches, spend all the money, dedicate your fucking life, go living in a monastery in fucking China, do whatever you want.

[1579] You're never going to beat that guy.

[1580] But in the third round, he kept him honest.

[1581] He landed some good shots.

[1582] So I wouldn't say that's necessarily applicable.

[1583] You know, but certainly going to do some work, you know, in the striking department.

[1584] Yeah, in the striking department.

[1585] and I'm sure in the wrestling department as well.

[1586] Sure.

[1587] You know, he got him down briefly, but Max did a fantastic job of stuffing it, getting back up to his feet, you know, retaining, you know, getting...

[1588] Yeah, for sure.

[1589] I mean, I don't want to speak out of turn.

[1590] I did find it somewhat curious.

[1591] Is it Hena Gracie?

[1592] Yes.

[1593] Hennie Casey giving him the boxing advice in the corner.

[1594] Yeah.

[1595] I found that somewhat curious.

[1596] Yeah.

[1597] You know, when I had my fights, Jason Periloff, the fight was on the feet, he was given the instructions.

[1598] When the fight hit the floor, Brady Fink took over, you know.

[1599] And if there was elements, you know, they knew their elements in the corner.

[1600] You know, he'd say his bit, boom, you go.

[1601] You know, no disrespect to Henna Grace.

[1602] He's done amazing things with Brian Ortega, by everything I see online, you know, congratulations, you know, but when you're getting outstruck, I don't really want advice from a jitzo coach.

[1603] Right.

[1604] No, that's a good point.

[1605] It's a very good point.

[1606] You know, it's interesting, like you had a great situation, with Jason Perillo and the other coaches that you worked with.

[1607] And sometimes a young fighter needs like a mastermind, right?

[1608] You need like a Matt Hume or Farras Zhabi, someone who could put it all together for you, a John Crouch, you know what I mean?

[1609] Yeah, absolutely.

[1610] And I was also going to say, and this is probably, well, by all accounts, it is what Henner is to Ortega, a mentor as well.

[1611] It does seem like he is his mentor.

[1612] So for that, you know, maybe I shouldn't have quite said it in the words that I did use.

[1613] You know what I mean?

[1614] It seems like that is his best.

[1615] mentor, his father figure, whatever it is.

[1616] So there's a reason why he is there.

[1617] But for sure, bring on an expert, you know, in those areas, a specialist.

[1618] Yeah.

[1619] Yeah.

[1620] It's, you know, it's a crazy world, the world of fights.

[1621] In mixed martial arts, you know, I mean, as I said, there's a lot of, there's a lot of fakes.

[1622] There's a lot of that.

[1623] And there's a lot of, it works good now, but then when you fight a world -class fighter, you realize why there was holes in that.

[1624] You'll find out pretty quick.

[1625] You know, when you've got a coach that's never...

[1626] Now, you don't have to have real -life combat experience to be a good coach, but it helps.

[1627] It certainly helps, and it helps the fighter really trust the advice that they're giving you, you know?

[1628] For a fighter to be standing there and telling you to throw combinations.

[1629] Have you ever been in there?

[1630] You've ever experienced what it's like?

[1631] To have another guy trying to take your head off every time, and you're going to talk shit to me?

[1632] Do you see the Mike Perry video?

[1633] No. Platinum Mike Perry?

[1634] It's fucking...

[1635] No, I know who Mike Perry is.

[1636] It's a great video of people telling him.

[1637] like when you're fighting and the coach is like go go go go go he's like I'm not trying to get fucking hit right now yeah exactly that's a great video too Mike you know he's an intense guy and he's talking about it and he's like we're faking we're faking we're fainting we're trying to make our way in but no one wants to make a move because no one wants to get clipped first yeah well I remember you know I mean when I fought Rashad Evans it wasn't the most satch impact fight and when I watched it back I was like fuck right why did I just go for it a little bit more and then I'm like oh because I remember because every time I took a step forward I felt the wind of the punch is nearly taking my head off when you sit even myself when you sit and watch you're like why are I doing more then you take yourself back to when you were in there and you're like ah yeah that was why that was why you know it's such a tricky situation and the the fight game evolves the styles evolve and the way guys pursue fights evolves it's just it's really interesting to watch you know you see a guy like Mighty Mouse who does things different than anybody else and you go oh oh well look how this motherfucker does it you know no for sure it's it's a it's a sport where you mean you were incredibly fortunate in that um you got to not just be there when it was exploding but you got to got to be a part of the explosion sure you know I mean agreed yeah no absolutely I mean it's like 2006 you were you were in the ultimate fighter yeah 2005 I thought it was December 2005 yeah crazy right crazy man It really was.

[1638] It really was.

[1639] It was good times.

[1640] That's when it was just popping.

[1641] Oh, yeah.

[1642] I remember when the Ultimate Fighter first came out, and it was on Bravo TV in England.

[1643] Well, same as here.

[1644] And I said to my wife, I was like, check this out.

[1645] And she's like, I can't watch it.

[1646] I'm like, why is it?

[1647] Because if you were on there, you'd win the thing.

[1648] So I don't want to watch it.

[1649] It's not fair, Michael.

[1650] You should be on there.

[1651] And then, lo and behold, you know, about six months later, they were looking for two Englishmen.

[1652] And we went down to Earl's Court for auditions.

[1653] And the great thing was, at that time, I was 10 and 0, I was the Cage Race champion, Cage Warriors champion and FX3 champion, as well as the British heavyweight kitboxing champion as well.

[1654] And everyone that was auditioning for the light heavier, I'd knock them all out in the first round.

[1655] Of course, you know, true to my style, I made, you know, Dana fully aware of that.

[1656] But yeah, it was crazy, man. I couldn't believe it.

[1657] You know, it was nuts.

[1658] I'd never been to America.

[1659] Next minute I'm on some fucking reality TV show and a mansion in Las Vegas.

[1660] You know, it was a great time.

[1661] It was, it really was.

[1662] What was it like being separated from your family for six weeks?

[1663] and doing that show and very hard very difficult of course but I was there for a reason you know and so I was the greater good you know I said yeah of course it sucks it sucks it sucks being away sucks missing time missing birthdays all that type of stuff but if you're doing it for a reason then then you know you've got to be mature about it my wife always was the kids understand you know yeah it's not good being away from home but I'm working on something here you know I'm trying to set us up come on do me in favor understand you know well it worked out yeah they were always great you know yeah it worked out it did no no regrets i mean maybe a few maybe a few yeah but you know what man there's no way to not have them yeah there's no perfect path that's one of the crazy things about fighting is zig when you should have zagged do you get hit that's it there's no that's part of the game that really is the sport you know it's uh it's such a cliche thing to say so many ways to win and lose but there really is you know and as you say you zig when you should have zacked the smaller gloves, you know, the takedowns.

[1664] That's the problem.

[1665] When you're fighting a wrestler, it's such a pain in the ass.

[1666] You know, because I'm a better striking than most of these wrestlers, but when they're trying to take you down, it changes everything.

[1667] Right.

[1668] Because you go out and you're like, okay, this motherfucker's just trying to take me down.

[1669] That's all he's trying to do, so I can stand there, and I'm going to wait for him to shoot, and then I'm going to stuff his takedown.

[1670] Because I'm waiting for a takedown, I'm not thinking about the hands, and then you get caught over the shot.

[1671] You're like, what the fuck?

[1672] You're supposed to be going for a takedown, not punching me in the face.

[1673] and then all of a sudden your striking is terrible because you're totally thrown off by the wrestling so it's a very very difficult sport it really is another one of your most impressive victories was the second fight with Dan Henderson because you got hit with some fucking bombs in that fight but you refuse to go out you refuse to be stopped in that fight yeah you know what I mean that was a display of willpower in a lot of ways because I remember watching those big shots from Henderson land and I mean they were on the edge you were on the edge going out oh for sure absolutely I mean I remember he hit me I went down he was swarming on me hit me with some elbows but I remember I was always fine but I was like holy shit that was what hit me there and then I managed to get myself back to my feet and blood pouring out my face and whatnot of course second round the same thing happened and he had two big moments in the fight two big shots but they were big moments but you don't win a 25 minute fight by landing two shots but they were big shots fair play to him but uh you know I refuse to quit there because you know obviously going into that fight I talked a bit of shit like always and you can lie to everybody you can lie to the media you can lie to the press you can lie to your family lie to your coaches or it's not necessarily lies but you can ooze bravado and this and that but you can't lie to yourself you know when you're let in bed at night and your head's on the cushion, you know.

[1674] You can't bullshit yourself, you know.

[1675] And day of the fight, because the fight was at 6 in the morning, day of the fight, I'm letting my bed trying to just have a nap because it was going to be a long night, obviously.

[1676] And I couldn't sleep.

[1677] And all I was thinking, human nature, last time I stepped into an oxcom with this guy, I was fucking out, cold for a long time.

[1678] My brain was scrambled eggs for a long time after that fight.

[1679] And as I say, you can lie to everybody else, but now the fight was getting close, and it's in my hometown and it's my first title defence and all this, I'm like, shit, shit.

[1680] I know I'm better than this guy, but fuck, last time, last time didn't end well.

[1681] So I was getting a little worked up and I remember I was at the arena and I was kind of, you know, being a little edgy, a little snappy with people and there was no need for it.

[1682] And then I just stopped, I started laughing and Prill, I said, what's, where you're laughing at?

[1683] I said, well, what's the worst that's going to happen if I lose?

[1684] What's the worst?

[1685] I'm going to lose a fight.

[1686] It's happened before.

[1687] So why am I stressing myself out of it?

[1688] And I just started laughing and after that I was fine.

[1689] But yeah, yeah, no, it was, I definitely had a sore face the next day after that one for sure.

[1690] Yeah, but you, you know, you got through the fire.

[1691] Yeah, no, I did.

[1692] And I felt great.

[1693] The only problem was in the fifth round because this cheekbone, it was on my good side.

[1694] He shattered the cheekbone on my good side.

[1695] And it swelled up so much.

[1696] much.

[1697] I could hardly see out of that eye.

[1698] This eyes fucked as well.

[1699] So in the fifth round, I'm like trying to like get a certain angle where I could even see the guy.

[1700] Do you know what I mean?

[1701] It was a nightmare, you know, but yeah, got the job done, fortunately.

[1702] Is there anything that like is on the horizon in terms of like medical science that you're looking at in terms of being able to fix your eyes?

[1703] Not that I know of.

[1704] I spoke to doctors about it, you know, because I was yeah I was always curious what could be done but I don't think in my lifetime there is but the reason I retired was the Gastilin fight because I was cleared to fight and the doctors were always like we don't really advise it but you are cleared you've passed the test just by the skin of your teeth and for me that was all well and good you got to do your medical the most stressful part of all of that was when you you've got to go do a full training camp now and fly somewhere and you're going to see another doctor a commission doctor at the weighing right and you don't know what this doctor's going to be like you don't know if he knows anything about eyes you don't know if he wants to be a hero you don't know if he wants to make fucking press the guy that pulled the main event you know what I mean very very stressful time so for me the fight was always the easy part the hard part was just fucking making it to the octagon and I go to the weighings and I get cleared I was like the feeling was like okay we'll good.

[1705] The fight's on.

[1706] Because I didn't know the fight was on until I got past the commission doctor.

[1707] How many different fights did you have to go through like that?

[1708] About, I think it's about 12, something like that.

[1709] Twelve fights with eye powers.

[1710] I'm not sure if it's 12, something like that.

[1711] Hold on.

[1712] Belcher, Cungley.

[1713] No, Belcher, Tim Kennedy, Cungley, Rock Old, CB, Telly's Lightest, Anderson Silver, Luke Rockold, Dan Henderson, GSP, Gaston.

[1714] 11, 11, yeah.

[1715] Yeah.

[1716] So that was stressful.

[1717] And then, obviously, you know, I lost the belt.

[1718] And in my mind, I've retired, you know.

[1719] I just hadn't made it formal yet.

[1720] And I was driving out for lunch with my wife and my in -laws.

[1721] They were in town.

[1722] And we heard on Sirius XM Fight Club, the Luke Thomas show.

[1723] He was talking about Anderson Silver testing positive steroids.

[1724] And they needed a replacement.

[1725] And I said, shall I do it?

[1726] And they were like, what were you talking about?

[1727] So I text Dana right then and there.

[1728] And a week later, I'm on a plane to Shanghai.

[1729] no training I've done anything I'm like No training Well I mean I trained As soon as I found out About that Right You know I mean I sparred a few times And then got on a plane And went out there And yeah You know God bless him He got me But then after the fight Because You know As I said You know I was clear to fight But The doctor's always said We don't recommend it Because if anything It happens You're going to be in a real problem And I was like Well So many fighters In the UFC Have long careers and they don't get detached retinas.

[1730] Okay, it's a very, not rare, but it's pretty rare.

[1731] Pretty rare.

[1732] You don't hear about it too much.

[1733] So I'm thinking, okay, well, the lightning's already struck.

[1734] Okay, lightning isn't going to strike twice.

[1735] You know what I mean?

[1736] I'm not that fucking unlucky.

[1737] Anyway, so we have the Gaston fight, and then we go to an after party in Shanghai, I'm in some club, and I'm in the club, and every time I look that way, it still does it to this day.

[1738] Every time I look that way, like a bolt of lightning, like a flash.

[1739] You see it right now when you do that?

[1740] what do you see like someone's taking a picture yeah yeah and I was in this club and every time I'm looking it's doing that and I start freaking out because I know you know I've got a history of symptoms with eye problems and whatever and I start telling myself I don't believe this I've got a detachment in my good eye and I'm freaking out and I don't want to be in a nightclub around a bunch of fucking dickheads anyway or drinking I hate nightclubs so I say I'm just gonna go to the toilet and restroom and I wasn't I was leaving you know but I just wanted to be by myself and I left there and shed a little tear in the taxi I didn't want to be sat in a fucking nightclub crying because if people see me crying they're going to be like oh he's crying because blessing me lost a fight to Gastilum I was like no I'm not crying because I lost the fight to Gaston I'm crying because I might be going fucking blind here you know what I mean so I jump in the taxi I go back to my hotel and then later on Perillo and a few guys came back to see if I was okay and you know whatever we just carried on talking and having a few drinks at the room and forgot all about it and you know turned into a bit of a messy one in Shanghai forgot all about my eye and the next thing I'm on a plane flying home and I'd forgotten all about it I fall asleep on the plane I wake up halfway home probably flying over the Pacific somewhere the plane's pitch black and then I open my eye and starts doing it again I'm like shit because I've forgotten all about it so I'm trying to get on Wi -Fi on the plane trying to find out of the plane something about it trying to Google it what it could be and all the rest of it and the Wi -Fi wouldn't work and I'm going up and I'm trying to beg the air horse test you know please please please I need to get a Wi -Fi I need I have to I didn't tell her why and she said no it's down right now I'm like oh fuck anyway so I'll land I call my eye doctor straight away I tell him I say listen I think I've got a detached wetter in my good eye why do you say that tell him the story says don't worry don't worry you know you'd be okay so I go see an eye doctor the next day and he says I tell him the issue he says why do you say that and I tell him why I said so do you think he's a detached retina he says well it certainly sounds like one I'm like fuck me he says okay we're going to put some drops in your eyes everything's going to go blurry and I only see a tiny bit out of this eye and I'm like oh I make a stupid joke as my defence mechanism I'm like oh I guess I better get used to this view eh ha ha and the doctor's like well we don't know that just yet and I'm like fuck me You know, that's not the answer I was expecting.

[1741] Anyway, turns out, didn't have a detached retina, I had a partial vitreous detachment.

[1742] So you have your cornea here, your retina at the back, and in between what's called vitrious fluid and millions of fibres connect to the retina to send the message, I think.

[1743] If I'm getting it wrong, I'm sorry, doctors.

[1744] And in your 60s, that just slides off the retina and detaches naturally.

[1745] Maybe in your 60s, 70s, who knows.

[1746] But as you get older through old age, slides off.

[1747] It can detach you to trauma.

[1748] So that's what happened to me. Uh, so it, but it partially detached.

[1749] So, but the problem was, when these fibers are pulling, they can cause the retina to tear.

[1750] So, uh, they were, they were like, well, we need to keep an eye on this and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

[1751] So anyway, long story short, after that, I thought, fuck this.

[1752] No, ain't worth it.

[1753] And have they done anything to the eye sense?

[1754] No. There's nothing to be done.

[1755] There's nothing to be done.

[1756] Nothing can be done.

[1757] No, yeah, and they're fine with it.

[1758] They're happy with it.

[1759] It's okay.

[1760] But it was, for me, it was, you know, a step too far.

[1761] I pushed it as far as I was willing to push.

[1762] In fact, I'm a liar.

[1763] I was supposed to fight Rashad in London earlier this year, but we couldn't, you know, agree on the deal terms with the UFC if I never materialized.

[1764] And I was flying up to New York to do my podcast with Lewis.

[1765] On the plane I'm watching this movie called The Journeyman And it's Paddy Considant It's about a boxer, he's a world champion at the end of it He wins a fight and then he has severe brain damage And it's a very, very sad movie Should check it out, it's really, really powerful, very, very good Anyway, I watched that and I thought, that's it I'm done, I'm done, I'm done, I'm done That was it, that was it, so I got off the plane We started our podcast, I said boom, I've got an announcement That's it, over Good for you It was the best decision I ever made You know, I've been very, very, very happy ever since.

[1766] Yeah, I mean, you have options.

[1767] I mean, you had a long, great career, you have options.

[1768] Yeah, I mean, as I say, no regrets, you know.

[1769] I mean, it was a wonderful ride.

[1770] I loved it.

[1771] I never thought a young kid doing martial arts and, you know, a guy that just liked to have a scrap when he was a kid could take it this far.

[1772] And that's a beautiful thing about the UFC these days.

[1773] You know, if you're of that certain mindset, that certain character, you like a bit of rough and tumble, you don't mind getting a punch, in the face here and there and you're willing to go for it, you can make it living.

[1774] You can make it, you know, when I was younger, I used to do a lot of professional kidboxing, but I never looked at it as a career because it wasn't back then.

[1775] But now it's great, you know.

[1776] It really is a career, viable career.

[1777] Well, especially for a guy like you who's a good talker who understands how to break fights down and you can make this transition.

[1778] It's one of the things that I really like about the UFC that they've allowed these fighters.

[1779] Like, you know, I do a lot of commentary now with Paul Felder and Daniel.

[1780] Cormier, Dominic Cruz, and they've given these guys these options.

[1781] It's great.

[1782] As I was saying before, but that was one of the things that scared me as well as a kid because you go in gyms all over the world and you see amazing talent everywhere, amazing talent, and, you know, they're sleeping in the cars or they're sleeping on a couch at someone's friend's house, you know, and they're struggling to pay the bills and they're driving a shitty beat -up piece of shit, you know, and it's a shame, and I see them, and my heart goes out to them.

[1783] And for whatever reason, they don't get the brakes, they don't look right, they can't put it together on fighting out, the nerves get the better of them, who knows what it is, but they just don't make it, you know, and find such a cruel, vicious sport, it really is.

[1784] So that's why when people, I get asked all the time, do you want your son to do it?

[1785] I'm like, well, no, not really, the way I sees it, I fought, so he doesn't have to.

[1786] But if he wants to, he's the number fourth -ranked wrestler in California.

[1787] I've seen the videos.

[1788] He's a beast.

[1789] He's a beast.

[1790] If he wanted to, of course I'll support him.

[1791] My father supported me ridiculously.

[1792] If it wasn't for my father, I wouldn't be here either.

[1793] But I wouldn't wish it on him.

[1794] I wouldn't wish the life of a fighter on anybody because it's so unpredictable.

[1795] And just because you're good and just because you can take a punch and just because you're an animal in there doesn't mean you're going to be a success, you know.

[1796] It's going to be the perfect storm.

[1797] What I tell young fighters is when they say, I'm thinking.

[1798] about trying MMA, I go, don't do it.

[1799] Yeah.

[1800] If you're thinking about it, don't do it.

[1801] If you tell me you're obsessed with it and you want to be a world champion, then I say, go ahead.

[1802] Sure, absolutely.

[1803] But if you're not obsessed, there's some motherfuckers out there that are, they're living at 24 -7 all day long.

[1804] Oh, for sure.

[1805] And this is a thing, you know, you see a lot of young fighters now.

[1806] They're obsessed with the image.

[1807] You know, you know what I mean?

[1808] Because it's on TV, it's cool, and it's got a lot of popularity now.

[1809] So a lot of people want to do it.

[1810] As I say, there's pretenders in coaches.

[1811] It's pretenders in fighters as well A lot of people, you know They want to be You know They want to be Connor McGregor They want to be Chuck Liddell or whatever And they're all fucking wearing tap out And we're having Mohawks and stuff Do you know what I mean And they're talking about Oh for this camp I'm going to bring in this guy Fucking camp You don't have training camps At the start of your career At the start of your career You train Monday to Friday You have a fight at the weekend If you win You're back in the gym fucking Monday You know what I mean You fight every few weeks You know When I was starting I think I had six fights in the first year probably five kickboxing fights you're trying to build momentum you're not doing camps I don't want to hear any young fighters saying to me for this camp I'm focusing on my wrestling like shut the fuck up you've had two amateur fights you're not doing a training camp buddy you're training that's it you know yeah yeah for sure well listen Mike thanks for doing this man I'm glad we did it and we could do it again anytime you'd like and tell everybody about your podcast with Lewis Gomez shout out to Lewis yeah absolutely big shout out Louis I think he's listing.

[1812] Hilarious guy.

[1813] Oh, hilarious.

[1814] Absolutely hilarious.

[1815] Believe you me. iTunes.

[1816] All that shit.

[1817] YouTube.

[1818] YouTube as well.

[1819] Yeah, YouTube on there.

[1820] Michael Bisping podcast or Believe You Me podcast.

[1821] iTunes, all that crap.

[1822] Check it out.

[1823] Or don't, you know.

[1824] Could have give a fuck.

[1825] If you like it, if you like what I've said for the last hour or two, check it out.

[1826] If not, kiss my ass.

[1827] Thank you, brother.

[1828] Right on, John.

[1829] Thank you.

[1830] Michael Bisping, ladies, gentlemen.