In this episode, we sit down with the champ and talk about his recent shoulder surgery and recovery. We talk about the recovery process, the recovery from surgery, and how to stay injury free. We also talk about recovery from injuries and how important it is to get back on the field and get back in the fight game. We also get into how to deal with injuries and injuries that come with being a professional athlete. Thanks to everyone for all of your support and stay tuned for more episodes coming soon! If you like the podcast, please HIT SUBSCRIBE and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts and we'll give you a shoutout. Thank you so much for being a part of the podcast and supporting the podcast. We appreciate it. Cheers! -The Champs -Jon and Jono Don't Tell Mom: e-mail us what you thought of this episode. if you liked it, please rate, review, and subscribe! we'll be looking out for the next episode! Jono & Jono thank you! We're Live with the Champs: We'll be back next week with a new episode next Tuesday. - Jono and the crew will be back with more info on his shoulder surgery, so stay tuned! -Jono & The Champs. Jon talks about his recovery from his recent surgery. Subscribe to our new podcast "Live With the Champ: and we're Live With The Champ Podcast: Subscribe, Subscribe, Like, Share, and Share, Share and Retweet! and much more! Thanks Jono is a big fan of the show, Jono will be listening to the show. . Subscribe and review us on insta-Jono is the best in the latest episode of the best podcast in the world, , and more! -JONO is going to be back in this episode of JONO and the rest of the world! JEANO is coming out with the latest in the best of the good vibes and the best, the best and the most authentic and the funniest in the most beautiful, the most dopeest in the place around the best around the place in the whole place! , JEASY and the coolest in the country JUICY AND THE MOST REALEST, the nicest and the MOST AMAZED!
00:03:03.000And so now you put this on your shoulder and what...
00:03:07.000Well, you put it on your shoulder and they have like this posture.
00:03:10.000So you hold this posture to this position, right?
00:03:12.000And then they also do a balance test first because if your back is fucked up, your knee, and your balance is off, then neurologically it's not going to actually send the current to the right spot.
00:04:11.000So you're saying that if you have something that's bothering you, a lot of times there's something that's wrong somewhere else that's causing that to be bothering you, and this somehow or another finds that?
00:04:49.000So when I'm throwing a punch, especially if I'm throwing just a crazy-ass punch, you can imagine that if I don't distribute the force properly, My forearm's gonna be sore.
00:04:59.000Probably what's causing my shoulder pain.
00:05:01.000Also being extended position in wrestling, extended and stretched out over time and time, it caused a shock.
00:05:07.000Now, just that one punch I hit Damian Maia with, maybe that wasn't a punch.
00:05:11.000That might have been the last damn straw that broke the camel back.
00:05:14.000But I think wearing terror from all those different years just beat my shoulder up.
00:05:21.000Before and after, best kind of version I think I could find of a good video.
00:05:25.000Yeah, range of motion-wise is actually deceiving because sometimes you'll fucking get zapped on this deal, and you couldn't bring your arm up at all, and then all of a sudden now you're like, oh shit, I'm healed.
00:05:37.000You gotta continue to do the protocol, continue to do the treatment, and work on that range of motion.
00:05:41.000If you do it one time and you feel great, go out there and start shooting threes, your shit gonna be fucked up.
00:05:47.000Hmm, yeah, so so in the Damien Maia fight you hurt your your shoulder like with one of the first punches you threw right guys I was I knew it happened because I Knew it I knew it's what they call subplex or dislocated whatever so I threw I saw opening had already lumped his eye up I'm like I'm trying to fuck that that side of his face up So I saw his left eyeball already almost closed.
00:06:10.000So I said I'm gonna try to go ham on him Bow, I threw the punch, and I felt my shoulder go down.
00:06:48.000And I know that the only pain that I'm going to feel is when I extend, when I try to go that direction, or any overhand right, that shit was going to be a wrap.
00:06:56.000So when I stayed here, I just threw straight punches.
00:06:59.000And there was a couple times I blitzed forward, and I wanted to punch, and I didn't punch because I didn't feel confident with my hand.
00:07:06.000Hmm, so you knew something was wrong, but you just didn't know exactly what it was.
00:07:11.000I knew it's subplex, so I knew it dislocated for sure.
00:07:14.000Whether the ligament was torn or not, I was praying that it wasn't.
00:07:17.000Because you can actually do that, slip it out without it tearing.
00:07:20.000But most times when you do that, it's a result of these muscles fatiguing, you punching too hard, making contact with your target, and then your whole muscles just kind of feel like, the best way I can explain it, everything just kind of fell down.
00:07:32.000So you tried to rehab it for a while, right?
00:13:45.000I heard about that Adam Hunter had you up at the Dime Bar.
00:13:47.000Yeah, I went to the Dime Bar because I feel like acting is what I'm gonna do after I get done fighting.
00:13:53.000And if you can be okay with being embarrassed, not being uncomfortable, and really not giving a fuck, then you can become a great actor if you have the gift and you're willing to put in the work.
00:15:18.000It affects me because our sport is also the fans, and the fans actually culture who gets to fight.
00:15:23.000And if a guy's gonna talk enough shit and start wearing fly suits, then this day and age, that's good enough for a title shot.
00:15:30.000And I think it's disrespectful to everybody that came before.
00:15:34.000Remember that you had to go 10-0, then you get the fucking call from the UFC? If Conor wants Artem Lobov in the UFC at a 500 record, he's going to be in the UFC. It's ways that the sport is taking the love out of it, but I just find a way in dominating my opponents, taking all their twos away from them.
00:15:54.000Dean, Thomas, shout out to them, and Duke Rufus are fucking masterminds.
00:16:12.000I don't like what the sport has become.
00:16:15.000So, this is an interesting thing to talk about because a lot of people have different points of view on that.
00:16:19.000On one hand, A lot of people like the traditional martial arts approach of respect for your opponent and just fighting to the best of your abilities and letting the chips fall where they may.
00:16:30.000Whereas other people say, well listen, to get people to show up, to get asses in seats, to get pay-per-view buys...
00:16:37.000There's got to be some drama and some entertainment value to it, and that's where someone like Conor comes into play.
00:16:41.000Conor's the only one that's done it, though.
00:18:31.000So now if you've got this person that's willing to go crazy, even though we know it's WWE and the person's really not getting slammed, we want to live in that moment anyway.
00:20:22.000What do you mean by a different category?
00:20:23.000I see them in a category—and this might just be me—I see them as in the category as if you're talking about guys that are going to enter the Hall of Fame, right?
00:20:33.000And you think about, oh, Josh Koscheck and Carlos Condit and Robbie Lawler and, you know, this guy, Anderson Silva, all those different guys.
00:20:42.000But it's funny that I've defeated these guys.
00:21:15.000But people are willing to be like, oh my God, you know, tell them, Dana said, tell them to get in the cage with Tyron Woodley.
00:21:21.000He didn't say, hey Tyron, tell them to get in cage with Stephen Thompson on the seven fight win streak, knocking everybody the fuck out with a really super weird style that took me months and a fortune bringing all these fucking crazy Taekwondo, Raymond Daniels, all these, the best of the best to train to beat him.
00:23:07.000UFC put the machine behind him, right?
00:23:09.000They definitely put the machine behind him, but without the machine behind him, there was giant hordes of people flying in from Ireland.
00:23:15.000I remember one of some of his earlier fights, I was like, and I was commenting on it, and I was saying, this is a guy who was on the undercard, and they're acting like this is the main event of a pay-per-view.
00:23:38.000My old striking coach was like, Conor McGregor's this huge star.
00:23:43.000That's when he first got in the UFC. And I'm like, I don't even know who the fuck this kid is.
00:23:48.000He was trying to convince me, no, he's a superstar.
00:23:51.000And then every time I get a chance, I say, you were right.
00:23:55.000He wasn't then, but this motherfucker ended up being a superstar.
00:23:58.000And he loves to get that credit because at that moment, I think I was getting ready to fight Duncan Kim and he kept talking about this Conor McGregor.
00:24:04.000So I said, let me look at this motherfucker.
00:24:05.000Let me look him up because you obviously got a boner for this dude.
00:25:28.000So now not only can he generate the pay-per-view buys and get people interested, he's actually going to deliver a knockout against Jose Aldo, a stoppage against Eddie Alvarez, and the crazy back-to-back fights with Nate Diaz.
00:25:41.000Don't you think that you're in an unusual situation, first of all, because you win the title by spectacular first-round knockout against Robbie Lawler, right?
00:25:53.000Awkward and difficult guy to defend your title against.
00:25:56.000Wonderboy Thompson is a very unusual opponent, and it's hard to look good against him.
00:26:01.000And out of all the people that fought him, you're the only guy that put him in danger not once but twice.
00:26:08.000And the way you fought him, I've defended the way you fought him many times because I say, look, if you look at tactically, if you look at technique, and you look at the art of fighting, that's the way to fight him.
00:26:19.000If you're a guy like Tyron Woodley, a powerful puncher, who's a great wrestler, who's got real one-punch knockout ability, you're not going to open yourself up to Wonderboy.
00:26:52.000I got the same thing in the Maya fight, but at the end of the day, if someone's attempting to take you down multiple times, over 20 times, it's very hard to get in any type of exchange.
00:27:01.000Every time you swing, they want to go in and get the shot to take you down.
00:27:02.000Well, the Maya fight was tough, too, because of your injury, but...
00:27:05.000You gotta go back and look at Anderson Silva's dark days.
00:27:08.000There was a dark days when Anderson Silva fought Damian Maia, where nobody wanted to have anything to do with him after that fight.
00:27:13.000And Anderson Silva fought, when he fought, there was several fights where he had Just boring results.
00:27:24.000And people weren't interested in him fighting anymore.
00:27:26.000One spectacular knockout, and everybody's back on board again.
00:27:30.000One spectacular knockout to get the belt, and then everybody slowly forget about it moments later.
00:27:36.000Because at the time, Stephen Thompson said, no, I'd rather fight Robbie, and I think he's going to win anyway, and da-da-da-da-da.
00:27:41.000And then he'd think, I'm supposed to be just so graciously like, oh, let's fight in honor.
00:27:46.000No, you wanted to fight Robbie, right?
00:28:00.000If I'm seeing the table being set, I know there's Nate Diaz's out there, Nick Diaz's out there, George St. Pierre's, Michael Bismings, guys that have that name, they have that status that I'm trying to get to.
00:31:26.000Like, you know, me and Dean was training one day, and I stopped practice, and I just had a brain fart, and I just started thinking about Joris St. Pierre, and I started thinking about all his skills, and I started thinking about Robbie, and all the top welterweights.
00:31:38.000And I said, I'm the fucking best in the world.
00:32:56.000And what happens when you don't make weight, you actually didn't have to go through and suck your body all the way down to scratch weight like I did.
00:34:35.000I'm just saying that I know the deck of cards I got.
00:34:38.000And I know how to play these deck of cards.
00:34:40.000But what do you think the deck of cards is?
00:34:41.000The deck of cards is there's going to come a moment where I'm a superstar.
00:34:44.000And when I get to that moment, I have more leverage.
00:34:46.000At this time, I'm not at the point where Conor McGregor's at.
00:34:49.000So if I've got to fight the number one contender, and I can't vouch out to fight a George St. Pierre or Bisping or Conor or Nate at this moment, I'm going to keep whooping the ass until I get to that point.
00:34:59.000Well, after George is beaten right now, George is in an amazing position, right?
00:35:27.000Well, maybe he felt like that was a better fight for him to come back with.
00:35:29.000It was definitely a better fight because if he would have came back against me looking like that, George would have been right back in retirement.
00:36:30.000Big, Bisping doesn't have the, I mean, he's not guys out, but he's not a guy that, you know, you're thinking of like a Rumble or Ngannou or myself or somebody.
00:37:39.000I mean, Tony, if I was Conor, which I'm not, if I had to pick the fight, they both are going to be, I mean, Habib might be a bigger draw because he got a huge, huge 140-something million people in Russia.
00:37:54.000Might be a bigger draw, but they both are very annoying fights.
00:39:39.000In business, at one point in any business, the person that's doing the business does not want their best interests.
00:39:46.000So if I'm an athlete and I'm looking out for my best interests and I'm trying to put myself in a position where, you know, I can fight, become a legend, become a Hall of Famer, I should do that.
00:39:58.000If I want to be paid appropriately, I should do that.
00:40:00.000In our sport, because of the way the UFC started, we the damn UFC, you do what we say, and that's it.
00:41:39.000You're going to keep circling back around to it.
00:41:41.000What I think is there's a way for if you want to make a big super fight, like if George St. Pierre really wanted to make a big super fight and the UFC wanted to make a big superstar out of you, that's the fight.
00:42:04.000No one's trying to stop that from happening.
00:42:06.000When the UFC is not willing to pay a certain amount of money, it's because they don't think they're going to get a certain amount of money.
00:42:12.000It's not because they're trying to avoid getting paid.
00:42:15.000If they thought that you could be some enormous superstar and they could make Conor McGregor-type money from you, they would never say, we don't want to do that because we don't want to give Tyron power.
00:43:14.000That's just so you can get a bonus though, right?
00:43:16.000I mean, when you look at the fights in terms of like, you could have a card where there's a lot of fights that aren't entirely significant and that would be the Fight of the Night.
00:43:27.000I don't think there's anything wrong with that fight.
00:43:29.000I've told you before, I like that fight.
00:43:30.000What I'm saying is that if the UFC, the people that are casting the checks, if they deem, because they didn't want to make decisions, right?
00:44:10.000I say, if you look at the result after the fact, people might say, if you knew what happened during the fight, you might say, well, it's boring to watch again.
00:44:17.000But watching it live was not boring at all because the consequences are so grave.
00:44:21.000It's one of the things that I pointed out.
00:44:23.000If Wonderboy fucks up, he's going to sleep.
00:44:26.000If you fuck up, you're going to get kicked in the head too.
00:44:43.000When I let go, it's because I see the opening.
00:44:45.000When I see the opening, you always know me to go.
00:44:47.000Tell me one time, I see an opening and not went, and I had somebody hurt, and I not try to finish them.
00:44:51.000But don't you think that that's just frustration for someone who's not fighting, who says things that aren't logical to you, as a guy who's a champion, who is fighting?
00:44:59.000These are things that people say that aren't logical.
00:45:02.000But it's damaging when it's the president.
00:45:47.000We're talking about two different things.
00:45:49.000What you're saying is you feel like the way they talked about you after the fight was damaging and disrespectful and also not...
00:45:59.000Accurate in terms of the consequences of your actions in the fight.
00:46:02.000Yeah, and nobody came through and was like, damn, you know what?
00:46:05.000I have to find out this motherfucker Toria's goddamn labrum in the first round, and he still didn't give a one damn takedown, didn't hardly get touched at all in the entire fight, maybe punched two or three times total.
00:47:08.000But you're obviously unhappy with certain things.
00:47:11.000And this unhappiness stems from the result of three fights.
00:47:14.000But if you look at one fight before that, the Robbie Lawler fight, I mean, everybody was talking about you like you were the most devastating thing of all time.
00:47:22.000The fact that you were able to do that to Robbie Lawler.
00:47:24.000All you need is one or two more fights like that, and everybody forgets about Damian Maia.
00:49:36.000So if you don't have great wrestling, great wrestling defense, great conditioning, and power in your hand, you're just not going to give me butterflies.
00:49:42.000Well, I think for sure you've accomplished some great things and fought some amazing fights against some very dangerous challenges.
00:50:00.000But when you talk about Usman, we talk about RDA, you talk about Darren Till, you're talking about also potential amazing fights.
00:50:08.000You know, I think there's a lot of outstanding opportunity and I think your division is one of the most talent-rich divisions in the sport.
00:50:43.000So now, the Darren Till, the Usman, all those guys, they're in that same pool.
00:50:49.000So I'm always thinking about training, always thinking about fighting these guys, always game planning for these guys before they even come up.
00:50:54.000At some point, I don't have to fight everybody because they're going to cancel each other out.
00:50:58.000If it's five studs, I might walk into three of them.
00:51:17.000On paper, Rory McDonald's my toughest matchup in the division right now.
00:51:22.000Even when Ellenberger was a stud and was fucking wrecking people because of his power, his wrestling, and his condition, him and Johnny Hendricks also would have been a threat.
00:52:42.000So now I'm going to formulate my game plan about what I think you think of me.
00:52:46.000Then I think about every fucking thing that you do.
00:52:49.000Every skill, every talent, every mannerism, what you do when you get tired, what you're going to go to, what's your bread and butter, and I get ready for those.
00:52:57.000And sometimes it's like, Robbie took a long time.
00:52:59.000It took up until the week of the fight for me to be like, I got this motherfucker.
00:55:55.000I can tell you how many times he stepped to the fucking left during the fight, how many times he threw his right hand versus his left hand.
00:56:00.000So, you know, I've been really secretive about a lot of this stuff because most people just see me as an athlete, they just punch hard, as a good wrestler.
00:56:09.000That's tough and good game plan, but I really, overly get obsessed with studying my opponents to the point where when Masvidal was fighting Wonderboy, I'm like, he about to do this, he about to do that, he's throwing this, he's setting this up, look, told you, there you go.
00:59:32.000So some of those fights, or even if Robbie wasn't the more active one, he's damaging people more because he punched harder and looked more aggressive.
00:59:40.000But how can Carlos Condit control the fact that he just don't punch as hard as Robbie?
01:00:26.000So someone throws punches and it looks like it's affecting a person more, even if the other person throws more and lands more, then the person that's landing the damage and punches you think should win.
01:00:34.000I think damage should count for more than punches that don't damage.
01:00:39.000Is that the way that they're supposed to score now, currently?
01:00:51.000Yeah, but what's also interesting is the scores are much wider now.
01:00:55.000You see a lot more 10-8s now than you ever saw before, which I think is good.
01:00:59.000I just think that our system, taking a system from boxing that only uses hands and applying that to takedowns, submission attempts, leg kicks, elbows.
01:01:08.000You would almost have to know this guy is a jiu-jitsu world champion.
01:01:11.000The fact that this guy swept him, he should score more because this guy, this is his warehouse, but no judge is going to have that insight.
01:01:21.000I think it should be a much broader system.
01:01:23.000I don't think it should be 10 points at all.
01:01:24.000I think you're dealing with extreme amounts of variables.
01:01:27.000It should be almost like a 100-point system.
01:01:29.000The guy that refed my fight against the Wonder Boy the first time, the one that was one judge that gave a 10-8 the first round and a 10-9 the fourth round.
01:01:42.000Fourth round was when I knocked him down three times.
01:01:44.000Yeah, the 10-8 was when you almost got him in the guillotine.
01:02:47.000Say, hey, man, I just want to let you know I judged your fight.
01:02:50.000And, you know, I'm the one that gave you the 10-8 in the first round and 10-8 in the fourth round.
01:02:55.000And then all of a sudden my insides just start burning.
01:02:57.000And he's like, you know, I just want to explain to you why, you know, because I don't have a problem with, you know, facing the fighters afterwards.
01:05:15.000The fact that people don't know that and that people say things like that and they don't understand what they really shouldn't be talking about fighting.
01:06:45.000I mean, Sage North could have kicked my ass for a couple days because I couldn't figure out how the hell to get up on him without getting kicked in the sidekick.
01:07:13.000He wanted to come out, but his manager wanted me to bring him, bring the manager, bring the friend, paid him all this money, get him all three different separate rental cars.
01:07:23.000I said, I don't know if the hell y'all think I am what kind of money I got, but...
01:07:30.000You made a big change in your life when you started training with Duke, and a lot of people don't know that before that you really didn't have a main trainer, which is pretty impressive.
01:07:40.000Dean's been with me for a long time, but as far as...
01:11:49.000I had to spend some time in Florida because Damian Maia, I'll be a complete idiot if I didn't take part of the, you know, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt at American Top Team.
01:12:00.000I usually try to get at least four weeks with Duke.
01:12:04.000The good thing about Duke, Duke doesn't have a huge ego, and he knows what he does well, but he works well with other coaches.
01:12:09.000That's why him and Dean has been such a great duo.
01:12:12.000If I need to bring in another striking coach or another training partner or somebody else, he opens up the door for that because at the end of the day, the goal is for me to be the champion, stay the champion, and reach my goal, being the greatest welterweight of all time.
01:12:45.000He's such a valuable guy in MMA. You think about the amount of money that he spent on American Top Team before he made any money.
01:12:51.000I mean, that guy poured money into mixed martial arts, poured it into it, and created one of the greatest facilities on the planet Earth for MMA, especially the new place.
01:13:03.000I mean, but as a coach, what I really respect about Duke is not just the fact that he's got this incredible wealth of knowledge, but that he's so humble.
01:13:11.000He's so, like, down-to-earth and chill.
01:14:09.000I do strength and conditioning with my guy, Derek Fairchild, and I got an up-and-coming featherweight that's really fast and good boxing, so I play around with him a little bit.
01:14:20.000I might run, I might hit the bag, might do the versaclimber, but when it's camp time, I'm out.
01:14:24.000When it's not camp time, I'm with the family.
01:15:11.000Now, with this injury and the fact that three months in, you should be able to probably start training hard, when are you looking to defend the belt again?
01:16:24.000So if George is going to go up fighting for another belt, another legendary move, fight a guy that does not have the punching power, maybe cannot take him down, maybe cannot stop the takedown, and for once, George probably had a punching power advantage against Bisping.
01:18:47.000A guy was homeless five years ago, and now all of a sudden, in two years of fighting in the UFC. He's so appreciative and so happy, you know.
01:22:16.000Look, this is going to be the toughest fight for sure in Ngannou's career, but what's...
01:22:21.000I mean, if Stipe can win, it's amazing, and it solidifies his position as the baddest man on the planet, but there's something about Ngannou that is...
01:25:46.000And the fact that he did that to Barboza, he wants to move up to 72. Shit, no he don't.
01:25:53.000Metabolic meals, send my man Habib out a pack.
01:25:58.000Nutritionists, anybody out there, I'm picking up the tab.
01:26:01.000Stay your psycho ass down there at 55. I'm not trying to see no Habib right now.
01:26:08.000Yeah, he's making 55 easy now though, so who knows?
01:26:12.000I think what I believe is going to happen is, I think Conor's going to vacate.
01:26:16.000I think they're going to strip him, because Conor's got $100 million in the bank, and I think he's having fun and talking shit, and he's going to keep training, and he's going to make a big fight in the future.
01:26:25.000But I think Khabib versus Tony is the big fight, and fuck, they might even do that one in Russia.
01:26:39.000And it's like, Tony Ferguson, very unorthodox.
01:26:43.000How many wins he's got, like 9 or 10 in a row?
01:26:45.000Yeah, he has the most ever in the lightweight division, and I think it's at 10. I think when he beat Kevin, it was at 10. Who did he lose to?
01:28:13.000I used to be like, man, this dude striking don't look like it's something that should frighten you that much.
01:28:18.000But when it's coming so often and so weird angles and then he's going for shots and he does the exact opposite of what you think you should do in grappling and then he's in the position.
01:28:28.000And then we get there, now he's got like five or six moves from that position.
01:28:31.000So he's like swishing it here and there and there before you know it, your ass choked out.
01:30:56.000So when you see him go do a regular armbar on somebody and submit them like, you know, Horiguchi or Jamaraga, like, damn, how you hit him with that armbar?
01:31:04.000Because he just don't believe in the fact that doubt in his techniques.
01:31:11.000Amazing time for the sport and I mean it's amazing time It's just amazing time for martial arts period I mean that I think martial arts right now is at the highest level that it's ever been in the history of people fighting each other.
01:31:27.000You know, it's an exciting moment as well because now you got so many different hopefuls.
01:31:33.000You know, we got six or seven people that they just need one more.
01:32:16.000And I think if she want to gracefully walk into a different realm, WWE, film, I think she just produced some type of series that we should support her in that.
01:32:28.000I really don't want to see her fight again.
01:32:31.000If she wants to fight again, but what I would want to see is her move to a camp that could address the entire game of MMA in a much more comprehensive way.
01:32:42.000And not tell her that she's great at something if she's really not.
01:32:45.000I would want her to go to Matt Hume or someone like that.
01:33:41.000And what a fight that would be in terms of just historical significance and how big it would be.
01:33:48.000I mean, he's coming off of the win of his career, coming back four years off, beats Bisping, chokes him unconscious for the title, vacates the title, steps right in there, fights you at 170. He's a G. It'll be fun.