In this episode of the podcast, we have a special guest, Mike Bisping, join us to talk about his life in the UFC, what it's like to be an Englishman in the United States of America, and much, much more. We also talk about the weird Hawaiian flag, and how he's a proud member of the British Royal family. We hope you enjoy this episode and stay tuned for the next one! -The Guys - The Guys - The Crew - The Crew - The Outlaws - Social Media - The Outlaw's - Mike's - Mike's Dad - Joe's Dad's - Joe's Mom's - and much more! - Joe s Dad - Mike s Dad's Mike s Mom s Joe s Mom's We talk about how he grew up in the UK and what it was like growing up in a foreign country, and what its like being an English man in America. - What's it like being a proud British man living in America? - How he got into the UFC - And so much more... - and so much MORE! Enjoy, enjoy, and spread the word to your friends and family about this episode to everyone you know who needs a good ol' English accent! Thank you for listening to the Outlaw Podcast! Cheers, Joe and Mike, Cheers! - The Chewing It Up! xoxo, Joe & The Guys XOXOXO. -The Chewing it Up Crews -Jon & The Cheers Crew ( ) -Your Host, Mike, Mike & The Crew, Chris, Nick, and the Crew, Jason, Dan, and Joe, Joe, and his Dad, Kevin, and Gorms, the Chewing On It All, and so on and so Much More! -The Crew, and of course, a little bit more! - Thank you so much for listening! -Jon's Dad, Mike's Back Again, and we're back again! - Cheers. - The Jerks, and Thank You, Joe's Back! - - Thank You For Listening, Thank You for Listening! -Your Support, Gotta Get It Out There's A Little Bit More, And So Much More, and So Much Love, Thanks, And Thank You To You, And We'll See You, Again, And Again, & So Much So Much, And More!
00:04:09.000That is one of the best things UFC's done, is do that post-fight show, because when the fights are over, you're sitting around going, fuck!
00:04:26.000You know, I mean, 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.
00:07:01.000I would think if it's a billion dollars, I would think it'd be like some Guy Ritchie movie where some mobsters would get together with some fighters and say, this is how we're going to do it, see?
00:07:30.000The reason why I say this is because this is what happened with Professional Pool.
00:07:34.000Professional Pool had a line at one point in time in Vegas casinos, and the pool players all got together and said, Let's fucking put all our money on this guy who's a 10-1 favorite to win it, or 10-1 underdog to win it, and we'll all make money.
00:07:45.000And so they all dumped, and this one guy, I think his name is Mike LeBron, he won the whole thing.
00:07:50.000The only way he could do that is if there was no stats.
00:10:56.000You 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.
00:12:13.000Yeah, that was, I mean, that also, like, just to get a victory over that guy, when it all's said and done, there's some...
00:12:22.000Yeah, listen, I'm aware that people would say, oh, but you didn't get Anderson in his prime.
00:12:28.000Well, 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?
00:12:36.000and yeah it's funny because people always say you're not worried that when you talk shit going into a fight that you're gonna motivate your opponent even more and i always used to say ah no don't be stupid listen they're gonna try and hit you as hard as they can but i don't know in that one i think it did motivate anderson because he was certainly not fucking about in that one that's for sure no you it wasn't it wasn't like the anderson in the derrick brunson fight that's for sure yeah that was a different fight right derrick brunson and him almost like like they made an agreement.
00:16:50.000I don't want to bang on about it too much, but I think where the waters really got murky is when TRT came in.
00:16:57.000When testosterone replacement therapy became a thing, and all you had to do was go to your doctor and say, You know, I can't get a hard-on or whatever, and all of a sudden, they sign you off and you're on TRT. No, I know.
00:17:08.000Even worse, you could take steroids first and then come off of it so your testosterone was low.
00:19:04.000If you start having those thoughts, those doubts, start looking at a fighter's physique and thinking, oh, he looks good.
00:19:10.000You've already lost, you know, but in hindsight, you can look back and say, holy fuck, what was I thinking?
00:19:15.000You know, this guy's fucking roided out of his mind.
00:19:17.000I remember on there, I was trying to get a rise out of him, and he kept putting his hand in my face.
00:19:22.000I'm not a religious guy, and, you know, God bless anyone that is, you know, I mean that, I respect everyone's opinions, but I'm not, and as we know, Vitor is heavily religious, and he kept sticking his thing in my face, he was pissing me off, so I said, Vitor, come here, come here, and he leans in, I said, there is no Jesus.
00:19:58.000There is the fine line, right, between talking shit and backing it up.
00:20:04.000But, you know, you did a great job of pissing people off in your career, and that plays a factor.
00:20:11.000Whatever you can do to get just them a little bit out of their comfort zone, a little bit out of their composure, and you were really good at that.
00:20:19.000Yeah, 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.
00:20:58.000Puff your chest out, look intimidating, look as angry as you can.
00:21:02.000And some fighters might just look at that and laugh and say, this ain't going to work on me.
00:21:05.000but 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, he does.
00:21:59.000Yeah, well, you know, it's just another day at the office, you know.
00:22:03.000It's a thing, like, a lot of people would wish that fighters were respectful and just, you know, treated it the martial arts way and bow to each other.
00:22:38.000You want every product you're involved with to be as popular as possible, whether it's a podcast, whether it's fighting, whatever it is.
00:22:47.000if 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 you talk a little I know from a consumer standpoint if I'm watching a fight I mean look at that last week with Fury and Wilder you know I was eating out the palm of their hands I mean it was an amazing fight but you know it hypes it it's great it's awesome to watch I mean yes it is beautiful to see two fighters walk up there and bow and shake hands and all the rest of it but it's also a little fucking boring if I'm honest like when I'm working the way in shows I'm like
00:23:16.000Give me something to talk about, please.
00:23:19.000You know, because I don't want to talk about your boring last fight that went to a split decision when nothing really happened.
00:23:23.000But if you get in their face at the weighing, great, we can pump it up a little bit.
00:24:57.000It was nice to see Brian Ortega and Max Holloway.
00:25:00.000They had that nice back and forth where Max...
00:25:02.000Sorry, pardon me, Brian was, you know, he's like, listen, I hope you're well and I hope you're over the injuries and all that type of thing.
00:25:21.000I don't want to see two fights pretending like they're in church or meeting the fucking president Okay, I want to see two guys that want to rip each other's head off Call me an animal.
00:25:32.000But that's what gets my, you know, engine ticking.
00:25:35.000Well, even when they were at the final weigh-in and they're staring each other down, like, even though it was respectful, there was a lot of tension.
00:26:47.000I 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, and then another fighter on the roster is calling me out for an injury, and now the fight's off, I'd have been pissed off with them.
00:27:59.000He reads the fight and he's so good at implementing that strategy of consistent pressure, constant angles, switching stances, and he switches stances flawlessly.
00:28:11.000He fights just as good southpaw as he does orthodox, and he'll switch in the middle of a combination and then turn corners on you.
00:28:34.000You know, it's great to see that he is okay, too.
00:28:37.000But I'm really happy that you did point that out.
00:28:39.000Because there was some issues, 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.
00:28:46.000I mean, he was trying to get down really quickly to 155, which is crazy, right?
00:28:50.000Because he fights at 145, he's the champion.
00:28:52.000And even struggling to go down from, he was in the 180s, to get down to 155 quickly to fight Khabib.
00:31:21.000Actually, GSP, the son of a bitch, he caused it back here.
00:31:24.000I was training for the Ultimate Fighter 3 final, and I was training with George.
00:31:27.000And we were training, you know, the old Zufa headquarters, that little gym at the bottom with the boxing ring.
00:31:33.000Yeah, 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.
00:32:43.000People didn't know, but it was hard for me to talk about it.
00:32:46.000I didn't want to talk about it too much while I was commentating your fights, but you had a neck injury that was so bad, one of your arms was weaker than the other.
00:32:52.000If you were doing bench press, Oh, for sure, still to this day.
00:32:56.000I mean, 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.
00:33:02.000Well, I don't know if I wouldn't feel a thing, but I'm totally numb.
00:34:22.000I'm going to get all these little niggles taken care of.
00:34:24.000Well, there's a company in Santa Monica called Lifespan Medicine and they do a procedure called Regenikine and that's what Peyton Manning had done over in Germany.
00:38:24.000Maybe 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.
00:39:04.000Well, I know you had both guys on the show, and I listened to a little bit of yesterday's with Deontay when I was picking my son up from wrestling.
00:39:12.000But when I watched that fight, I... Sorry, not when I watched it, prior to the fight happening, I thought Deontay was going to win.
00:39:22.000Even though Tyson's a very, very good technical boxer and for such a big man he uses a lot of feints and a lot of misdirection and he's very good, I thought Deontay's probably going to catch him.
00:39:33.000But then when I saw that he weighed in at 212 pounds, I said, oh, it's over.
00:40:20.000I mean, I know there was all that talk and Deontay put it on his Instagram about it not actually being 10 seconds, about it being over 10 seconds, but still, it is what it is.
00:40:29.000It 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.
00:40:36.000It's not Tyson Fury's job to monitor a stopwatch in the corner and say, hey, ref!
00:40:41.000We're at 10. No, if he hasn't said 10 and he gets up, fight's still on, you know?
00:40:45.000There's no telling that he couldn't have got up on the actual 10. He probably could have gone up at the actual count of 10 as well.
00:40:51.000But just the way he got up and then managed to win the round.
00:40:54.000Well, that's what really impressed me.
00:40:56.000I wasn't the biggest fan of Tyson Fury a few years ago.
00:41:03.000I don't know, we had some stupid back and forth on social media, on Twitter.
00:41:31.000But I gotta say, over the last six months or even the year, you know, he really, really won me over.
00:41:38.000What he overcame, losing all that weight, going through that depression or slump, whatever you want to call it, and then coming back and looking so good.
00:41:47.000And then afterwards, you know, the post-fight speech I thought was beautiful.
00:43:07.000I felt like it was, it looked like Tyson was outboxing him and, you know, using a lot of feints, a lot of movement, a lot of misdirection, a lot of, that herky-jerky style that he does.
00:44:08.000And anyway, but as I was watching it, obviously Deontay 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.
00:44:16.000And I said, if he follows that with a left hook...
00:44:19.000He's going to catch him, and eventually that's what happened.
00:44:23.000And he caught him as he was going down, which is even more spectacular.
00:44:25.000Because I think he clipped him with the first one.
00:44:27.000Yeah, clipped him with the right hand, then caught him with the left hook as he was going down.
00:44:30.000And the fact that he got up after he was flat on his back, his arms were down, I think six out of ten referees would have stopped that fight right there.
00:45:05.000But 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 G-Z. The guy who knocked out Adonis Stevenson.
00:45:15.000So I didn't see this, but Adonis is in hospital in critical condition right now, correct?
00:45:53.000I guess, you know, I mean, you're involved with the UFC, you know all the pro MMA... Dialogue that's put out there, you know, well, boxing is more dangerous because it's only punches to the head and they can take more blows, but...
00:46:07.000That is the thing that you can't take more blows.
00:46:45.000I would never let my kids play football.
00:46:47.000If my kids wanted to fight, I'd say, look, you're going to learn how to fight correctly, but if you want to play football, get the fuck out of here.
00:46:53.000It's just too many guys running at you, full clip, clashing helmet to helmet.
00:46:57.000Well, that's the thing, because they're young kids.
00:46:59.000They're young kids, and I remember when I was that age.
00:47:13.000And unfortunately, that isn't the case.
00:47:16.000Well, we've gone over some of the most recent statistics that they've released on CTE with football players, and they're talking about from Pop Warner to high school to college to professional, the number, like across the board, the number that exhibits CTE symptoms is staggering.
00:50:01.000They 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 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 you touch the head and then you knock it on the head that shoots a bolt it falls down and falls into the wall then you push a button and the door slides up and the Cow rolls down.
00:50:31.000So you run down the steps and as you're running down you grab what's called a piffing rod.
00:50:34.000It'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 like neon belly you put your knee on the uh the head of the cow you feel for the hole you just made in the hair then you get the end of the piffing rod you push it into the hole you feed it all the way in until it's all the way into about this much out the top of the head how long is the rod about eight foot eight foot and you feed it all the way because it goes down the spinal column You're killing all
00:54:00.000The 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.
00:54:10.000There's a big issue with mountain lions.
00:54:14.000There's a lot of places that have hunting seasons on mountain lions because of that.
00:54:17.000Yeah, I wouldn't say there's hard and fast rules for everything, different environments, different situations, then you need a different approach.
00:54:25.000Well, you know that Cecil the Lion thing, that whole story that went down?
00:54:31.000If you remind me, I think I know about it.
00:54:33.000I remember hearing something about it.
00:54:35.000A famous majestic lion that was in this park, and 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, and everyone became very mad at this guy because the lion had a collar on it, which meant that there was a lion that they were tracking.
00:54:54.000The thing is, they can't see the collar when they're trying to shoot it.
01:00:37.000I was on set the next day, but I had a few drinks.
01:00:39.000Now, 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.
01:00:47.000And then the next day, I'm walking into the gym just to have, you know, this little light workout.
01:00:52.000And my phone starts exploding, lighting up like a Christmas tree.
01:04:30.000And it's like Jason Prillo always says...
01:04:34.000It takes confidence to take a day off to rest the body, you know?
01:04:39.000And now, of course, there's a fine 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, you know?
01:05:42.000Don't go in, lose your fucking temper, spaz out, stress out, act like a dick, say things you regret.
01:05:47.000You 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.
01:06:03.000Just 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 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.
01:08:36.000And then 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...
01:08:46.000The 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.
01:09:32.000I was a fighter and that was the only thing that I could draw pride from.
01:09:40.000Becoming 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.
01:09:51.000I heard what people always said about me, do you know what I mean?
01:09:54.000So to win like that in style in the first round, yeah, yeah, it felt amazing.
01:10:29.000And then as I'm doing my, like, victory dance, if you will, I do a lap of the octagon.
01:10:34.000And I cross paths with Luke, pardon me, and I'm like, hey, you know, you say whatever you say, you know, unlucky bird, you know, good fight, whatever, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
01:10:45.000I said that, and I carried on having my moment.
01:10:48.000I was just out of my mind, on adrenaline, and just having a great time.
01:10:52.000And then I found myself, I'd done an entire lap of the octagon again, and I was passing him again.
01:10:57.000So I just thought I'd extend my courtesy one more time.
01:10:59.000And I put my hand out and he said, I already shook your hand.
01:12:12.000I'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 a title.
01:14:21.000To pass, to be able to clear by commission to fight, you've got to have 2200 vision, which I was able to scrape by with the skin of my teeth.
01:14:56.000For 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.
01:15:06.000The UFC, you know, sent me to a number of different doctors and whatnot.
01:15:09.000And as I say, I passed the test just, but it was...
01:15:13.000And every time I did, the doctors were like, we don't recommend that you fight, you know.
01:15:40.000But if I ever do see some old fights back, which occasionally just happens by chance, afterwards, I'm always calling for a shot at the belt or whatever.
01:15:48.000I said to my wife, I said, What the fuck was this guy thinking?
01:17:29.000George beat me fair and square that night, but there was a lot going on going into that camp.
01:17:34.000The final week, and again, I never said anything at the time because God bless George, and he's a great guy, and I respect the hell out of George.
01:17:58.000I think George is the consummate professional.
01:18:00.000He's an inspiration to all aspiring martial artists out there.
01:18:04.000If 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, George St. Pierre would be that man, you know?
01:18:11.000He's an inspiration to myself, you know?
01:18:13.000So, nothing but the greatest of respect.
01:18:16.000But people, as we said at the start of the show...
01:19:27.000And 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, slammed me down, and his shoulders went right into my ribs, and I felt it instantly, just all the cartilage just tore completely.
01:19:42.000And I just started swearing and screaming, because I knew, I knew.
01:19:49.000I went, I saw a doctor and whatnot, and yeah, it wasn't good, so I was...
01:19:54.000I got treatment every day and I was having ice on me and all that type of stuff.
01:20:22.000So I got this doctor and I was going to, I had the needle, I had the lidocaine and I was going to fucking go in and sneak into the toilet and FaceTime the doctor and he was like, okay.
01:20:31.000And anyway, the whole thing, it was just too on top.
01:22:00.000You know, you remember how you handled all your sparring partners and whatever good shots you landed and you didn't really take any damage.
01:22:07.000That's a great, that's great momentum to go into the fight with.
01:22:10.000And you don't know if you have another sparring session, it's going to go like that.
01:22:13.000You know, you might be tired, you might be worn down.
01:22:16.000Those guys might be on the game that day.
01:22:17.000And 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.
01:24:14.000There's a lot of scumbags out there, people that want to take your money, so...
01:24:18.000It's hard for young fighters too when they get contractually obligated 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.
01:24:29.000It's a very common issue with fighters.
01:24:30.000Yeah, well for me I wasn't contractually obligated.
01:24:34.000I 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.
01:24:51.000Not a single email, not a single signature, nothing.
01:24:54.000It'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 can go a long way, it seems.
01:25:06.000But I don't want to talk about that too much because I'll probably end up getting fucking sued again.
01:25:10.000Have you thought about training fighters?
01:25:16.000I really would love to because I feel this was one of my issues as I was a coach, sorry pardon me, as a fighter because believe it or not, you know, I mean I retired at 39 years old and at the time I'd had the most fights in the UFC and you know, whatever.
01:25:33.000Believe it or not, I know a thing or two about how to prepare for a mixed martial arts fight.
01:25:37.000You know, so that was one of my conflicting things always with my coaches.
01:25:41.000Not that I didn't respect them, but I would always kind of feel maybe I should be doing this or should be doing that.
01:25:47.000And that's what I would do a lot of the time.
01:26:33.000There's some of them that are making those transitions into training.
01:26:36.000And 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, it's almost like that knowledge and experience is almost wasted.
01:26:47.000Or at least the experience of how to prepare kind of goes away if you don't pass it on.
01:26:54.000Because otherwise someone has to go through all the stuff you've been through to learn it.
01:27:24.000When the time comes, I would love to do that.
01:27:26.000That 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.
01:27:49.000Small town boy, you know, northwest of England, not a lot going on there.
01:27:53.000Beautiful little town, but, you know, tiny little town.
01:27:57.000Not a lot of opportunity and just fell into a rut, you know, working minimum wage in factories, you know, from seven in the morning till six o'clock at night, just doing mundane, medial shit, you know, and I hated it.
01:31:03.000Me and Lewis on one of our episodes recently, he was saying, you know, usually when I'm front row at the fight, I'm like, hold on a minute.
01:31:10.000When have you ever been front row at the fight for one?
01:31:12.000Because he was saying, I prefer the first riser.
01:31:14.000I'm like, okay, well, that's what everyone says, that they can't get front row tickets, okay?
01:31:17.000You all say, oh, I'd rather be on the first riser, you know, because you haven't got to get a sore neck looking up.
01:33:02.000Well, Rhonda Rousey and Liz Carmouche.
01:33:04.000She 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 armbar.
01:33:10.000Why does that work on women, but not men?
01:33:21.000I think what we saw in the Ronda Rousey fight with Liz Karmouche, Liz Karmouche took her back and almost choked her out from that.
01:33:27.000And if Liz was the Liz of today, she probably would have choked her out.
01:33:32.000She just wasn't quite experienced enough at the time.
01:33:35.000I think the reason why you're seeing it more in women's MMA is because although the level is very high with Valentina Shevchenko and Jacek and Cyborg, the level of the champions is very high.
01:33:46.000There's still the lower levels nowhere near.
01:33:50.000You could watch a guy on an undercard that's fighting on Fight Pass who's a fucking world-class demon in the UFC. He's a man.
01:33:57.000The women, there's way less of them and the competition is not as strong.
01:34:04.000Yeah, I mean, they haven't been doing it as long.
01:34:10.000I 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.
01:34:18.000I don't know what the percentage is of men.
01:34:19.000If we said it's 50 just for the sake of the argument, women it's going to be 5%.
01:35:03.000His girlfriend, he was cornering his, you know, the mother of his children.
01:35:07.000She was a Thai boxer, Cassie, and shout out Cassie, no disrespect, you know, but to be cornering your loved one, that you're in a relationship, and she got knocked out cold in a Thai boxing fight.
01:35:19.000I was like, wow, Daz, how do you do that?
01:35:20.000And, you know, the mental strength to understand that this is a different relationship, that she's the student and the teacher, and this is just the way it is.
01:35:59.000There's not too many, and I say this with the greatest respect to women's mixed martial arts, and I respect everybody that applies themselves and is willing to get off a couch and make something of their life.
01:36:10.000So, you know, I'm not being overly judgmental.
01:36:13.000But there isn't too many that I... Really get excited for and that really thoroughly enjoy watching.
01:36:20.000Because as we just said, the level of skill isn't quite there yet.
01:36:24.000As I say, it's nothing to do with genders.
01:36:27.000Why do I want to see a watered down product?
01:36:30.000If I can see these guys doing it at such an extreme level, I don't really want to watch smaller...
01:36:35.000People that can't hit as hard with lesser technique.
01:37:02.000And Jon Jekek impressed me, you know, because she had a, I think it was a tough three rounds, fourth round, you know, she probably might have edged that fourth round, you know, so it's impressive that she still had the fight in her, so late in the fight.
01:37:15.000Valentina's just too strong and too good of a grappler and, yeah, and bigger.
01:37:20.000Physically bigger, like you see her back, the traps, everything.
01:37:23.000When they're against each other, Janjacek's very slim, very slender, and Shevchenko has muscle on her.
01:37:29.000Well, Shevchenko was successful at 135. There you go.
01:37:32.000That's a big gap between 35 and 115, where Janjacek was champ.
01:37:35.000And the reason Janjacek went up to 125 is because she couldn't get her belt back at 115. And I say that with the absolute grace of respect, you know?
01:37:43.000Well, a lot of it was the weight cut was crushing her, and then she didn't have to cut weight for 125, but on the flip side, you're fighting a bigger, stronger woman than Valentina.
01:38:15.000I was like, if Max, if it goes to the ground and Max gets caught up in something, I mean, Ortega's got the nastiest fucking submissions in that featherweight division.
01:38:48.000There's a lot going on in 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.
01:38:57.000Well, he's only young, so that should be a massive motivator for him.
01:39:00.000Because when you go away and you win fights, it's great.
01:39:03.000There's no better feeling than winning fights.
01:39:04.000And I'm telling you this like you don't know, but you know this.
01:39:06.000But when you win in fights, it's great.
01:39:08.000And you go away and you don't really change anything because everything's going good.
01:39:12.000But when you lose, then you're like, okay, shit, I don't want to make a habit of this.
01:40:01.000Another time, when I fought Elvis Sinister, well, back in the day, it was my first fight in Manchester, and I was getting tickets for everybody.
01:41:45.000But, you know, when you experience that kind of a fighter, when you experience that kind of a champion like Max Holloway...
01:41:52.000You understand that there's areas where you're exposed.
01:41:55.000There's areas where you have holes and you have areas where you can't compete with him as successfully as you have been with previous fighters.
01:42:02.000So that's a learning experience and I'm sure he'll be better because of it.
01:42:05.000I would say because of the third round, then yeah, he certainly made it competitive in the third round and landed a couple of good shots.
01:42:21.000All the work, all the coaches, spend all the money, dedicate your fucking life, go live in a monastery in fucking China, do whatever you want.
01:43:36.000You know, it's interesting, like, you had a great situation with Jason Perillo and the other coaches that you worked with, and sometimes a young fighter needs, like, a mastermind, right?
01:46:12.000It's a sport where you were incredibly fortunate in that you got to not just be there when it was exploding, but you got to be a part of the explosion.
01:50:34.000When you're led in bed at night and your head's on the cushion, You can't bullshit yourself, you know?
01:50:39.000And day of the fight, because the fight was at six in the morning, day of the fight, I'm laying on my bed trying to just have a nap, because it was going to be a long night, obviously.
01:51:01.000As 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 defense and all this.
01:52:30.000I spoke to doctors about it, you know, because I was...
01:52:37.000Yeah, I was always curious what could be done, but I don't think in my lifetime there is.
01:52:43.000But the reason I retired was at the Gastelum fight because I was cleared to fight and the doctors were always like, we don't really advise it, but you are cleared.
01:52:52.000You've passed the test just by the skin of your teeth.
01:52:55.000And for me, that was all well and good.
01:52:58.000The most stressful part of all of that was when you...
01:53:03.000You've got to go do a full training camp now, then fly somewhere, and you're going to see another doctor, a commissioned doctor at the weigh-in.
01:54:44.000But then after the fight, because, you know, as I said, you know, I was clear to fight, but the doctors always said, We don't recommend it because if anything happens to your good eye, you're going to be in a real problem.
01:54:56.000And I was like, well, so many fighters in the UFC have long careers and they don't get detached wetness.
01:55:37.000And 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.
01:55:49.000I've got a detached wedding 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, all drinking.
01:55:58.000So I said, oh, I'm just going to go to the toilet and restroom, and I wasn't.
01:56:04.000I was leaving, you know, but I just wanted to be by myself, and I left there and shed a little tear in the taxi.
01:56:10.000I 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, bless him, he lost a fight to Gastelum.
01:56:15.000I was like, No, I'm not crying because I lost a fight to Gaston.
01:56:17.000I'm crying because I might be going fucking blind here.
01:56:57.000So I'm trying to get on Wi-Fi on the plane, trying to find something about it, trying to Google it, what it could be and all the rest of it.
01:57:03.000The Wi-Fi wouldn't work and I'm going up and I'm trying to beg the air hostess, you know, please, please, I need to get on Wi-Fi.
01:58:04.000So you have your cornea here, your retina at the back, and in between what's called vitreous fluid, millions of fibers connect to the retina to send a message, I think.
01:58:14.000If I'm getting it wrong, I'm sorry, doctors.
01:58:16.000And in your 60s, that just slides off the retina and detaches naturally.
01:59:10.000I was supposed to fight Rashard in London earlier this year, but we couldn't agree on the deal terms with the UFC if I never materialized.
01:59:21.000And I was flying up to New York to do my podcast with Lewis and on the plane I'm watching this movie called The Journeyman and it's Paddy Considine, it's about a boxer who's a world champion and at the end of it he wins the fight and then he has severe brain damage and It's a very, very sad movie.
02:00:08.000I 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.
02:00:17.000And that's the beautiful thing about the UFC these days.
02:00:20.000You 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.
02:00:37.000It really is a career, a viable career.
02:00:40.000Well, especially for a guy like you who's a good talker, who understands how to break fights down and you can make this transition.
02:00:47.000It's one of the things that I really like about the UFC. They've allowed these fighters, like, you know, I do a lot of commentary now with Paul Felder and Daniel Cormier, Dominic Cruz, and they've given these guys these options.
02:01:15.000You 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.
02:01:27.000And I see them and my heart goes out to them.
02:01:29.000And for whatever reason, they don't get the brakes, they don't look right, they can't put it together on Friday night, the nerves get the better of them, who knows what it is, but they just don't make it.
02:01:39.000You know, and fighting such a cruel, vicious sport.
02:02:06.000I wouldn't wish the life of a fighter on anybody because it's so unpredictable.
02:02:11.000And 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.
02:02:56.000They want to be Conor McGregor, they want to be Chuck Liddell or whatever, and they're all fucking wearing tap hat and having mohawks and stuff.