I am joined by UFC 298, Victoria's Anthony Fluffy-Hernandez. Fluffy, what is going on, brother?

What's up, brother? How are you doing? I just finished S&C, and now I'm ready to go to wrestling and some fit-ins and back to work.

Straight back into it. No rest for the wicked.

No, it's easier for me just to stay in the groove because once I start fucking off, it's hard to get back on track. You know what I mean? So it's just better for me to stay in it until I retire, I feel like.

So you've been chipping away and well done, by the way, on the work. I think that's unbelievable. A lot of people take some time off in between fights and go and get fat. You're not tempted to do that?

No, I'll get fat easily. I just change my diet. You know what I mean? That's why I got the fluffy name. The weight comes easy, so I got to keep working it.

Yeah, because you started off at heavyweight, right?

Yeah. When I was 15, 16, I was fighting local pros and shit at smoker events and stuff, fighting heavyweight, fighting just grown-ass men my entire life. So I don't give a fuck who I fight. You know what I mean? It's helped a It's just like, since I was a kid, I've been taking on grown men. It is what it is. It's just a fight. You know what I mean? Worst case, I have to start all over.

Anthony, listen, I'm not just saying this because you're on it. I've got so much respect for you. I mean, the way that you fight, I'm going to choose my words carefully, but you remind me of myself in a way, because I was never the strongest, never the quickest, never the best athlete. And don't take that as a sign of disrespect, because it's not what I mean. But you find a way to win, man. I'll never forget when you choked out Rodolfo Vieira, you didn't even know who that guy was right when you fought him. And time after time, this is what you're doing. What are you want now? Is it a five-fight win streak?

Five now, yeah. Five-fight win streak right now. So far it's going great. But dude, I appreciate that. That means a lot coming from the fucking champ. You know what I mean? The goal is to be in the seat where you're at and have a great retirement. Just see what I mean? But I'll rest when it's over. But for now, it looks like 40s, where people are starting to teeter off. You know what I mean? So if I can take care of my body and be smart, I want to get the title, make a bunch of freaking money. And that's my goal at the end of the day, just living the cuts and be left alone.

How old are you now, Fluffy? I'm just looking at the fight card. I should have done this before, but you jumped on a few minutes early. I mean, you are prompt, you're dedicated, and you even showing up to the podcast early. How old are you, Fluffy?

I'm 30.

Oh, dude, you got loads of time.

Yeah. No. Man, I thought when I was 25, I was like, I'm going to come in here, clean up shop, got humbled a couple of times, you know what I mean? And then that was just approach it the right way and don't fight hurt. I learned you're not doing anyone a favor if you fight hurt. You know what I mean? There was a time when I needed money to get the fuck out of a trailer. I was living like a fucking 26-foot trailer. I was hurt still. I was like, Well, it's the best I could do right now. I just sent it. I'm not taking anything away from anyone. I got my ass whooped when I got my ass whooped. But being healthy, I mean, I've shown what I can do when I'm healthy and I'm fully dialed in. It took me a while to get over my dad's death and my grandmother's death. They were super close to me. You know what I mean? But as a man now, I feel like I'm fucking ready. I'm taking care of my shit. Everything's falling into place. So I feel like I just needed that growing up to do.

You know what I mean? Now I have my shit together and I'm ready to change these kids' life.

When did your father pass away?

Man, it's been for the Contender Series, honestly, he died right before that fight camp. And honestly, the Contender Series, I was like, it was probably one of my worst fight camps, but I got a 40-second knockout. I was drunk every day at practice, super fucking high all the time. Just trying not to think about the shit, you know what I mean? I was like, hella depressed. I lost my best friend, basically. But I'm good now, and now it's just put in the work and everything that my dad did with me and for me, it's just, repay it. And this is the only way I can repay it, is by winning. You know what I mean? So you're going to have to fucking kill me to try to get me to lose in the cage because I got a lot riding on it. You know what I mean?

Listen, we have said that people do have to kill you to finish it. My God, it's unbelievable. Sorry to hop on about your father. Do you mind if I ask how he passed away? Because obviously, I'm 45 next week. I'm getting on and I've got parents and they're all... I worry about that all the time. How did your father pass?

Man, so he was a diesel mechanic and just smelling all kinds of bad fumes, fucked up his lungs. And they went to do a biopsy. And when they went to cut a piece of lung, it broke off and like, briddle. So just a bunch of fluid and shit filled up. And then basically all the fluid filled up and stopped his lungs. And then he got put into a coma, and then he wasn't waking up. A couple of my uncles and aunts were doctors, and I was like, All right, give it to me real. What's going on? And they said basically, because he was unconscious for like 45 minutes, that usually they're not going to come back. And my dad told me, he almost died when I was a kid once. And he always told me, If I'm going to be vegetable, you fucking pull the plug. You don't let me just die. And I'm like, You respect. I don't want the same fucking thing. I'd shoot myself if I was fucking stuck in a bed. You know what I mean? So I did as he said, and The rest is history. But basically, fluid stopped as long as basically from some fucking lung disease.

I don't even remember the word. It's some big ass doctor word. I'm not the smartest guy. You know what I mean?

Yeah. Well, me and You both, buddy. Me and you both. Well, listen, I guarantee if he was here now, he will be so proud of you, man, because what you're doing is phenomenal. Saturday night was a big spotlight for you. I mean, opening up a massive pay-per-view like that. I mean, your profile must have grown recently. Have you felt that?

It grew a little bit. I probably should do a lot more social media shit. Honestly, I don't even like doing interviews, usually. I've been telling a lot of people like, Hey, sorry. No, thank you. But obviously, you're a fucking legend. I'm going to talk to you. And then I just met, was it Ariel Juan the other day for the first time? Didn't really know who he was. He seemed cool. But yeah, I'm not really into social media. If I could just chill, kick it, and just raise my kids, I'm happy. You know what I mean? The rest is just extra. I had my time to shine when I was younger and dumb, but I don't know. Now it's like I'm trying to be somewhat of a fucking good inspiration for my daughters. You know what I mean? I got little girls now. I'm like, Fuck. I remember how I was, so I'm trying to be straight-edged as fuck. You know what I mean?

Too straight-edged. Just, Fuck. You know what I Too straight edge. Hey, look, listen, never mind the social media bullshit, because it is just bullshit. It's just a distraction. It's not important at the end of the day. Sounds like you've got your priorities straight. All that matters is your family, your kids, providing for them like your father did for you. So, yeah, you're doing the right thing. Let me ask you, was Helwani asking questions, trying to get you to shit on the UFC?

No, he wasn't. He was just asking my story because he find it intriguing I didn't really know who he was. But the way I see it, I hardly watch fighting. The last thing I'm going to do is go look up people's interviews. I really don't give a fuck what no one's doing. You know what I mean? The only thing I care about is getting the belt and changing my kids' lives in my life. Besides that, I don't really care. You know what I mean? Just focus on what I'm focused on and being happy, and that's all I really need. You know what I mean?

Well, you should do interviews because you're very good at them. You're good to talk to. And you mentioned your story. Tell us a little bit about your story, Anthony. How did you end up fighting? Where did Fluffy... I know it's because you were heavier, but because you were fighting. Hey, bro, you should have seen me when I was younger. My God. But, yeah, tell us a little bit about your background and what got you into fighting.

Man, When we first started fighting, it was like those cheap little denios gloves, lace-ups, the fucking cotton falls. It moves around when you're hitting each other. And it was like we'd fight in front yards in high school and shit. We would just beat the fuck out of each other, slam each other in the cars. At my high school, they used to fucking fight in the locker room. It was wild. I never fought at the fucking high school because it was just boxing. But I did like M&A front yard fights with my friends. Then my cousin's like, Dude, check out this gym. I went to the gym, started fucking training, fell in love with the sport. Then when I was 15, I pretty much met Max Griffin, and he's been fucking me up for a very long time when I was a kid. Basically, that's how I just stayed in the gym since I was 15, tried doing college, didn't work out very well. My teacher was like, Why don't you fucking quit fighting so you can actually do your homework? And I'm like, First of all, I'm fucking retarded when it comes to school. I'm going to definitely just drop out.

So I dropped out, took a fight with a 36-year-old cop, knocked him out in 30 seconds, and then made my MMA day you and just fucking went with it. And I've been in the gym ever since just chasing the same dream.

Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on. Back up. You knocked a cop out. I'm assuming that was in a proper tournament format. No, no. That wasn't on the street.

No, no, no. So I got fucking fired to go do some training.

The only people that can beat up cops these days are immigrants in New York. If you beat up cops in New York, you're fine. Outside of that, you might go to prison.

Dude, no, for sure. But it was like, dude, I went to go do some, what I was told was sparring, but I fucking filled in for Max a fight, and I didn't know that. I showed up with my fucking dad and my sister, and they ended up fucking mitting me out and cornering me. My dad had to sign a waiver because I was still 17 at the time. My dad signed the waiver, and then me and the cop got to fight that night, and I knocked him out. And then I was just like, Well, this shit's fun. That pretty much settles it. I'm going to go ahead and drop out of college.

It's not a bad way to start, is it? Knocking out a cop. Nothing against cops. Cops do a great service, by the way. That sounded weird. With the knockout, you know what I mean? Because that's the... And submissions, of course. Finishing another man. That must have been such a rush as a young man. You're like, Of course I want to do this.

Dude, fuck, yeah. And I just got a ticket that week, so it worked out perfect.

It was that- You took out all your frustrations on that guy.

For sure.

Brilliant. So let's talk about this fact, Roman Kopalow. I'm looking at your record now. Roman Kopalow, That's a big win because he was soaring. He was looking like a really hot prospect. He is a hot prospect. Edmund Shubhazian, same thing. Marc-andre Barriol, he's having a good career. Josh Fremd, and before that, Rodolfo Vieira, a man that's so So highly regarded in the jiu-jitsu world. Saturday night, Roman Kopalov is known for his striking. He's also a Russian that's an international master of sports, so they can wrestle. Talk us through the fight from your perspective.

Yeah, I just found out he was a five-time Sambo champion yesterday. I was like, Oh, shit. That's dope. But no, yeah, the dude was really quick. I knew he was going to run away and skate to the power side. He shows that every fight. He's really fucking good when he went forward. As you've seen, he fucking kicked the shit out of me and hit me. But the goal was just to get him backwards. I do my best work when I'm in people's faces and I'm walking you down. Because like I said, I trust my defense, and I know what shots I have available to me now. So the goal was to stay in his face, hit him a lot, and then hopefully that would open the wrestling. I knew he had a shitty gas tank just because every time he throws shots, if you watch his diaphragm, he takes a deep ass breath in circles. So it was just a fucking matter of making him have to fight his ass off and making him that nervous energy jump and just staying in his face and slowly chipping at him. I knew he had only one way to beat me.

It was kickboxing. So as long as my defense and all my fucking shit was there in the right place, I was going to be fine. And it was just keeping that elbow in front so he can kick my elbow instead of my liver. You know what I mean? Yeah. Little adjustments.

It sounds like you did a lot of homework on this guy.

Dude, I'm telling you, my coaches, they do a lot of the homework. I honestly don't have to do no thinking. I trust them with my fucking life. I've been training with these guys for a very long time now. I know they're fucking jealous schoolgirls. You know what I mean? They'll fucking look in there and figure out every fucking tendency these guys have, and then they'll let me know. And I'll watch a couple of times, see how they come out. If they come out crazy, then it's like, all right, we got to fucking fight off the gates. You know what I mean? Or we get a just slow approach. But, dude, my team is so good at doing their homework and shit, which is like, I just have the right people around me, and I'm a hard worker, so it usually works out. You know what I mean? And I'm not the dumbest person. I understand the shit. Sometimes I get hit, I get pissed off. I'm like, fuck you, bitch. Come on. I just want to go kickboxing days on the motherfucker. You know what I mean? But I got to be smart and stay very well-rounded.

Yeah. Well, you certainly do seem smart. You seem to have a really good solid grasp of the fight game, and you're going to be a good thinker in there. So you're going to be a smart man. I know you're talking at school and stuff, you're great and whatnot weren't the best, but you know what I mean? You're clearly a smart individual. Talk to me about that finish because you were trying to get that wear-naked chalk. He was defending you on the chin. You were trying to get a neck crank. Then you got it sunk in. And you're staring down Mario Lopez just giving him the biggest old cheesy grin.

Dude, no. Yeah, it was fucking dope because he's hella cool. I've been talking to him now, here and there every once in a while, and he's super into boxing. He's super into jutsu. He just seems like a solid ass person. You know what And to see him going hella crazy for me, when I had that shit and I knew it was under his chin, I was like, oh, I fucking got him. I don't talk shit when I fight or leading up to fights. It's all respect in the game. But when we're face to face and we're fighting, I'm going to for sure talk shit because it's the game of war. You know what I mean? If I can mentally fuck with you and piss you off and get you off track, then it's just going to buy into my favor. So I feel like at least. And I got a hard head. Did you get a chance to speak to him after? I tried throughout the week and shit, but he didn't speak no fucking English. So every time I'd say something to him, I'm like, Oh, yeah, fuck. You know what I mean?

So you're a fake Mexican?

Dude, fuck it. I'm definitely super fucking... Yeah, no, definitely. My Spanish sucks dick, too, because they're like, Can you do Spanish interviews? I'm like, Dude, everyone around me is white. My dad's from Mexico, but he talked English to me my whole life. You know what I mean? We came here for the American dream, motherfucker.

Exactly. It seems like it's going well for you.