Fuller up. You're listening to the guest.

Conceive, believe, achieve. Shut the fuck up.

You're listening to Believe You Me with.

Michael the Count, Bizbing, and.

Anthony Lionheart Smith.

Ladies and gentlemen, we are finally back in this 2024. The BYN pod is back, and so is the one and only Mr. Lionheart himself. Anthony Smith. Happy New Year, brother.

Yeah, happy New Year. We're going to set these New Year's resolutions that we're not going to ever accomplish. It's so funny seeing all these New Year's... No, you're not going to do that. I know you're not. It's not happening.

Dude, we didn't even plan on talking about this at all. I failed already. I'm doing dry January. I'm doing dry January. I'm not.

Drinking the drug. It's fucking noon.

I'm not that bad. But last night, Josh, I didn't get back from England until Saturday evening. So we were exhausted. We were like zombies. New Year's Eve, same thing. We were dead. So then last night I'm like, Well, let's treat it like it's New Year's Eve now. And we didn't go crazy or nothing, but had a little bit of alcohol. I had two drinks. That's all it is. But technically failed, miserable. What is your resolution? Do you have one?

No, I don't really have one. That's the same shit I always want to do. I got to... I need to have a better routine when I'm not in training camp. I think that's been my main one. I got to do a better job of keeping my weight down and stay in better shape in between fights instead of just messing around. But that's always been my goal.

People always say the problem is with these resolutions is that they set goals that are far too big that are unachievable. So of course, they fail measurably. We always want to be a better version of ourselves. One little thing that I'm going to do is that when I wake up, I'm going to get out of bed. Now, that seems like an obvious thing, but Rebecca is such a great, she's such a saint. She wakes up, she goes and makes the coffee and she brings it to bed. I drink the coffee in bed and then I go, Will you make me another coffee, and she goes and brings me another coffee. And before you know it, I do my emails, I've got the news on, I'm scrolling a little social media. Before you know it, sometimes 90 minutes has passed and I'm still sitting in my bed. I'm like, Right, that's it. When I wake up, we're out of bed.

We're getting out of bed. I'm getting out of bed. That's probably harder than people would... I mean, if that's your routine, it's probably going to be harder to drink than people would probably imagine.

People are probably like, What a spoiled, bastard life did this guy live that the hardest thing he's going to do is get out of bed. Oh, dear. So we got a good show planned. We got a good year planned, 2024. We're going to continue to take this podcast to the next level. Now, before we get into everything, Anthony, didn't go your way, brother. There's a lot of.

People you want to know. You drugged me out of my whole. I've been hiding under a bridge like a troll.

Have you really?

Yeah, I haven't talked to anybody.

No podcast, no interviews. You just stayed at home.

Mike, I'm not even answering text messages. I haven't even spoken to my manager.

Oh, I know. You didn't answer mine, you prick.

For anybody that's listening, if you've texted me or reached out and I haven't responded, and it's not you, it's me. I'm just in a weird place. Sometimes you just have to unplug. I really threw myself into just being with my family. Sometimes you have to sit back and, I don't know. I got to reevaluate and just see where you are, what do you want, where do you want to go, what do you want to do? Because there was, I don't know. It was a pretty dark place there for a while.

Well, it's understandable because obviously you put up a lot of time, effort. You put a lot into not only preparing for a fight, but as fighters, we make it our identity. It defines who we are to a certain degree. I mean, of course, family, wife, children, that comes first. Outside of that, we're fighters, and that becomes who you are. And it's almost like your success in life and how you are viewed at by these, I don't know, the fans that are very hot and cold, they're very fickle, you know what I mean? They're on the bandwagon, then they're off the bandwagon, and it affects you. And even though we're supposed to be these big, tough guys, of course, it fucking affects us. And you fail measurably. And the reality is that it's just a sporting event and people fail all the time.

But you.

Me, the person in the octagon, or to use that quote, the man in the arena, they're the ones that feel it the most, and they're the ones that have to go and sit there and be left with their own emotions. I don't know. Do you want to go into that a.

Little bit? Yeah. I guess I'll start with just the fight and then we'll go into the after. I knew that I was in an uphill battle. I knew that. I knew the position that I put myself in was not going to benefit me. I knew that I would put myself behind the gun. I was fine with that. I knew exactly what I was getting myself into, and I knew what I was up against. I had quite a bit of weight to cut. That was the bigger issue, which is initially, they wanted me to fight that weekend that he was initially supposed to, but I couldn't make the wait in time. So they bumped it back a week and gave me a little more time. No, don't get me wrong, all weight cuts are hard. But this one, I don't want to say it was significantly harder than the other ones because it was about the same, but it was a significantly more amount of weight. It was a lot more weight. I was like, 2:36 when they called, and I had about 10 days to get it to 205, which was whatever. I did the right way.

We got on weight, whatever. And then we go into the fight. Even in camp, and I always pulled the curtain back, not that I had a long camp, but I went to Denver and Chris Curtis was there. I couldn't have asked for a better training partner other than Chris Curtis leading into that fight. He was a short-hockey south-paw that's got power in his hands. It was as close as you were going to get on short notice. And in camp, I just wasn't seeing the left hand. I wasn't seeing the straight left. I don't know that it's been a while since I've been in front of a real high-level south-paw. To be honest, there's not that many of them out there, especially with that style, with that body type. So even then, I wasn't seeing it. And I don't know if that's I just haven't seen it in a while or if it's me, I don't know. But I think it's probably just a time thing. I think over the entirety of a training camp, over five, six, seven weeks, seeing it every single day, I think I'd figure it out. But I wasn't seeing it.

So we had to change the game plan in 10 days. So we went from having no fight to a game plan to three days into a 10-day preparation to I have to change it because I'm not seeing it. I was getting fucking tattooed with it in practice. So we had to change it. And it was working. And then I went into the fight, and he was just way faster than I had anticipated. I knew he was going to be fast, but it was shocking how fast he is, how he goes from zero to a hundred so fast. So I struggled with the speed in the fight, and I didn't really have any other options. I wasn't seeing the left hand. He was faster than I was, and he was faster than I was prepared for. Some of that is I wasn't in fight shape, so I wasn't... I was seeing things, but my body just wasn't reacting fast enough because I haven't been in camp. So... And there's no excuse. That's my fault. I put myself in that position. I knew that was a possibility. But I couldn't react to it fast enough. I just had to walk him down and try to get him into a phone booth.

And he had a great game plan. Hes he changed a lot of things that he would typically do in a fight. He didn't overextend. He didn't let me draw him into a brawling style. He was super methodical and technical. I didn't have the cardio to push the wrestling as hard as I really wanted to and try to level the playing field there a little bit because the last thing you want to do is be... You don't want to be in front of Kaleo Roundtree anyways, but the last place you want to be is in front of him tired. And so I had to conserve some energy, so I wasn't able to do a lot of stuff that I wanted to do, at least at that pace. And he went to the uppercut one time early in the fight, and he didn't go back to it until the third round. So I was getting away with just shelling up and keeping my head tight and dealing with the stuff that was coming round. I was jamming up his straight punches. I was taking him, but they weren't real hard because I wasn't at the end of them.

I was jamming his punches halfway. Him and his coaches made a great adjustment. He went uppercut, popped my head up, and then came over the top. And that was it. I didn't contest to stop, obviously. I was awake and aware the whole time. But there's a brain to body disconnect where I'm aware of what's happening, but I can't control what's going on on the bottom half. I've had a lot of memes and videos made about me with the dancing. And to be fair, the salsa dancing one is really funny.

I haven't seen them. I've been out of the loop. I'll do my research on the Anthony Smith memes. You got to give credit sometimes because they get creative.

There was a couple of them that are funny, but Kylia couldn't have been more respectful. He couldn't have been a nicer guy. He couldn't have even saying he thinks that that fight maybe goes different had I had a full camp. I thought he was really... He could have fucking hammered me with that last shot when I was trying to figure out which way was up and which way was down, by the time I looked up, the referee was already stepping in. He could have really put a good one on me. And he didn't. I think that that just goes to show the type of person that he is. I think it shows that even through all of this, I think I earned his respect enough for him to show a little bit of restraint there. To be honest, I don't know that I would have done the same for him. And that's not that I don't respect him. It's just that's more of my instinct is to follow people down. I think he has so much power. He knows if he lands a shot like that, he probably doesn't need to. But I think that was really cool with him, and I appreciate that.

And maybe going forward, if I end up in that same situation, maybe I'll take a page out of Kaleel's book and maybe show that same restraint. I hope that that's the case. And then afterwards, man, it was tough, bro. It was really tough. A loss is one thing, but one like that is really tough to take. Unfortunately, you've been there, so you get it. It's embarrassing. And you're just in a dark place. And then you start asking yourself questions like, Do I still belong here? All these questions you ask yourself are irrational. Kaleel is a top 10 dude. It doesn't matter what his number in front of his name is. Skills wise and the talent that he has and that he possesses is top five or top 10 level in the world. So then you ask yourself like, Fuck, what am I doing here? I don't want to be the guy that has people telling you that you need to leave. I'd like to go out on my own terms, and I don't want to be forced out. Those questions and those doubts come in like, Do I belong here? Why am I still doing this?

Doy am I doing this? Am I doing this because it's all I know? Because I don't need the money and I don't need to take unnecessary damage. I don't need to get knocked out for no reason. Of course, the money is nice and the paychecks are cool and the adrenaline rush you get from being in there is awesome. But am I just doing this because I don't know anything else? It's all I know. It's all I've done my whole adult life. I just removed myself from everything and just cut away from all the outside input and just tried to figure out like, What do I really want? Why am I still doing this? Do I still want to fight because I like fighting or is it just because it's familiar? And I think I came to the conclusion that I still like fighting and I still want to do... There's some things that need to change, though, not just in my game and my style. I had a conversation with Glover that I think really helped a lot. Just as we age, you have to change some things. It's not that you have to quit fighting.

It's not that you have to Oh, I'm not as good here. I've not progressed here. But there's some things that you're already good at that you can continue to really shape your game around and just change it a little bit. I also think that maybe I need to stop being so focused on the end goal so much. It's just like, I just want to fight for the title. I want to fight for that. Maybe I just need to take one at a time and just face whatever challenges in front of me and stop. Not that I'm looking past people or that I'm looking too far ahead. But everything I have wrapped into this fighting thing is about the title. And maybe when I stop being so concerned about the title, maybe I can fully focus on what's in front of me. Because it's always about the repercussions of that loss or the repercussions of that win. The first thing I thought about when I walked out of the octagon was like, Now, how long is it going to take me to get to a title? And it wasn't even about the fight. It wasn't about Kaleel.

It wasn't about what just happened? It was about I was still so focused on like, What does that do to my title hunt down? Maybe I just need to put that away and stop fucking worrying about it so much and just take one at a time and just enjoy the right now and just live where I am and just be where my feet are instead of just trying to always be somewhere else. But I still want to fight. I'm not going anywhere. That's probably the worst loss I've ever taken. But I feel like if I had more time or I was in better shape or I had a whole training camp or a lot of things are different, I think that whole thing looks different. I don't think I aged overnight. I think I just put myself in a tough spot. It's like football. Teams go for it on fourth down. And when they get it, they look like geniuses. But when they don't convert it, you look stupid and everyone's going to rake you over the coals about it. I think it's one of those times where I look dumb as shit now, but had I won, I would have looked like a genius.

I don't know, man. I'm rambling now, but I think some of this gave me a better perspective on where we are in the world. The absolute hate and vitriol that I got after that fight really... And again, I've learned to deal with it.

That's just trolls. I'm actually trying to not interrupt. There's like, First shot, 20, 24, bisby, don't interrupt Anthony's speech. I've been trying. No, listen. I'm only interrupting to say it, but they're just trolls. People that send those messages, they don't matter. Any half-decent human being does not message a fighter that's a decent person that's trying to provide for their family and revel in them losing and being defeated and failing in their mission. You got to be a certain level of piece of shit to do that. So anyone that does that, just forget about that.

I've done a pretty good job over the last couple of years of just dealing with it better. I just write it off and blow it off. But this one was especiallyyou know, there's especially a lot of hate, which is whatever. That's the position we put ourselves in. But it almost helped. It almost made me feel better. At the end of the day, all these people who are talking shit, like if you're one of these people that are online and you enjoy running to my social media and trashing me and whatever, don't forget who I am and who you are. Nobody knows who you are. I pulled myself out of the absolute fucking gutter with absolutely nothing. No high school diploma, criminal record, no friends, no one supporting me. I pulled myself out from fucking nothing to the worldwide leaders. I sit up on ESP and in a fucking suit with no high school diploma talking about fighting. It almost made me feel better that I have done so well with so little that people that are that level of a piece of shit are mad about it. I've almost embraced it. I almost enjoy it, just keep bringing it on because I've worked so hard to get to where I am and sacrificed so much.

And if that means I go out and I get knocked out in front of the whole world, so what? It is what it is. I still tried. I still had the balls to step out there with a guy as dangerous as him on short notice and didn't fight like a pussy. A lot of these people would have went in there and just tried to pick at him and run away and avoid him. That's not who I am. I'm going to step into the fire every single time and we're going to see what happens. It doesn't always work out, and that's just life. And if anybody can take anything from me or my career, that's what you're going to get out of me every single time. And that's how I attack life. I'm going to step into the fire every time, and sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn't. But over the entirety of my life, I've continued to move forward and upwards and I've always come back better from a loss. And it is what it is, man. And I got to let it go and have a short memory.

Well, I mean, you said a lot there, so I'm just trying to unpack a lot of what you said. First of all, I'm happy to hear that you still want to fight. But if you want to fight, you've got to be a little bit more meticulous about it, if you don't mind me saying-.

No, I agree. There's no more short-noted fights. That's for sure.

I'll be honest. I said it when we watched the fight on the live, and I didn't want to go into it because I felt like I was betraying you or whatever. I hated it. I was on a walk. I think it was Thanksgiving Day when I got the message and I found out you were fighting. I hated it. I fucking hated it. I didn't understand it because... I think, listen, you're a fighter, 100 %, and you've got balls of steel, you know what I mean? You're like, Fuck it, let's go. I can do this. I think with all this the trend lately of people stepping up on short notice, Tom Aspen just going out there and doing it, a Volkinovsky stepping up already last, but it's been like a thing, hasn't it? People stepping up with short notice. I think maybe let's take short notice fights. You only do that when there's really something worth risking it for, like I did it, but that was a title fight. You know what I mean? Right. I didn't understand it because you gained nothing from that. And yeah, of course, the money. But you're on a contract.

The money still would have been there. Sorry, I'm not trying to kick you while you're down. No, you're right. I'm really not. We're just saying we're going to have honest discussion, you know what I mean? I didn't like that. I think just going forward, you just got to be more professional with it. As you say, in between camps with the weight and and stuff like that, leading up to fights and just making the correct choices. Because I would love to see you fight on a full camp against Kaleel. And we can't take away from Kaleel's performance. He did tremendous. But the purpose of a fight camp, it's not only to get you in shape, it's to get you mentally ready as well. To get you dialed in, zoned in, locked in, fast, sharp, feeling hungry, knowing that you've done eight weeks of sacrifice. You haven't been out with your buddies, you haven't been drinking, you haven't been doing the things you want to do because it all comes down to this moment. So all that compounds to the best version of yourself on fight night. And granted, that's what brings the pressure because it's just one night.

And if you go out there, you fuck it up. You've done all that sacrifice for nothing. But that is why you do that fight camp to peak a physical condition. So you can push the pace for three rounds, five rounds, whatever it is. But mentally, you're locked in and your fucking reflexes are on point.

You're not 100 %.

And if there isn't that fucking goal there or the belt or the guarantee of a number one contender shot or whatever, then it doesn't really make sense. And that was my thoughts. And I understand you rolling.

The dice. When I knew that going in, I don't know what's wrong with me. I need to... I've always been a super mentally strong person, and I've been able to just push through and grind. And everyone has their down moments, but I've always been able to turn it around. And even when I feel like... I say this all the time. I said this on here a bunch of times. I don't really care how you feel. If you feel like shit or you feel like you can't do it, you can feel however you want as long as your actions are positive. You can feel like you're awful or feel like shit as long as you're moving forward and putting one foot in front of the other, moving towards your goal, it doesn't really matter how you feel as long as you're making the right step. So I've always been able to do that. But I almost feel like maybe I need to... We've talked about the mental health thing and done a good job of managing my mental health, but I think maybe I need to add in some sports psychology stuff because my ego can't allow me to make the right decision.

My pride, like who I am as a man, can't allow me to even have any small amount of self-preservation.

If that makes sense. I want to ask you about that, and I'm sorry to interrupt, but you're absolutely right. That's why fighters, we need protecting from ourselves. That's why you need a manager that will say, No, you're not taking that fight.

Everybody says no.

As far as we say, Fuck it. Yeah, let's go. I can do this. You know what I mean? And granted some are a little more flippant in that regard than others. But that's why you need a team around you that, okay, ultimately you're in control. It's your career. You can sign whatever contract you want. But when there's everyone around you, your team and your coach is all saying, No, no, no, no, no, no, you'd have to be pretty pig-headed to still go ahead and do that.

Honestly, I should have called you.

And just- I'd have told you fuck, no.

Straight away. And just ran it by you instead of... My pride and my ego is such a positive thing when you're in the fight. I won't allow you to get over on me in this position, not because I think you're going to beat me there, but because my manhood won't allow it. But it also has put me in some of the worst positions possible, like I'm sitting in right now. I wasn't man enough to say no. It wasn't my coaches said this is a terrible fucking idea. My manager was like, The answer to short notice fights is always no. Always. The answer is always no. Unless there's something, some caveat where it's the number one contender spot or title like you said or whatever, or they're giving you $10 million, whatever. But if you break it down by pros and cons, the answer is always no. My wife was like, Why? There's no reason to. But I couldn't give a response as no. I'm too prideful to say, No, I don't want to do that, or, No, I can't do that, or, No, it's too short notice. Or, No, I can't make the wait. I could have just said I was hurt.

They wouldn't have known any different because I tweaked my knee in practice a week ago.

They would have never known. There's nothing wrong with saying no, though. There's nothing wrong with saying, I'm locked in. I'm focused on trying to become a world champion. I'm not getting any younger, and I don't want to roll the dice. And they would have said, All right, fair enough.

Tiana, and I don't know why I'm just so afraid of someone thinking I'm a pussy. I don't know why. I felt good about the fight. Yeah, this is winnable, but I don't know. And I did feel good going in. I really did. But I don't know what's wrong with me. It's the same thing in the John Jones fight. Everyone always asks about, were you considering not getting up after the knee or taking the DQ? No, that never even entered my mind because the question they asked me was, Are you okay? Even if I wasn't, I don't have it in me to say no. I can't bring myself to say those words. I can't say, No, I can't do it. I just can't say it out. Even if I'm thinking it, I can't say it out loud. So I never even got to a position to think about a DQ or John or the knee or it was illegal or what. I didn't even get to that point. It wasn't even consideration because the first question was, Are you okay to continue? There was nothing after that. Of course, yeah, I'm fine. Yeah, I'm good. Even if I wasn't, I couldn't say it.

That's the exact same situation when the U-of-C called. Yeah, I'll do it. Yeah, I can do it. I can fight that guy. I'm no bitch. I'm not a pussy. What are you talking about? Tell me that. Can you make the wait? Of course I can. I could have waited to 70. I would have said yeah, and I would have tried.

And that's the problem. I don't mean with you. No, but I don't mean with you. I mean, it's with guys like you and I and fighters or whatever. Your best strength is also your biggest weakness at the same time. You know what I mean? I still fight that. I mean, there's a balancing act. I mean, my personality and who I am and all the rest of it has helped me greatly in life. Certainly post-fight career, I'm doing very well. But it also hurts me at the same time because I'm often emotionally immature. I'm quick to say something. I'll do great at a press conference. I'll give soundbites. I'll be controversial. But it also hurts me in day-to-day because I say the wrong shit.

I've come out with fucking... I hurt you at the gas station.

Yeah, you know what I mean? It's the same with being a fighter. You've got to be more business-like. You've got to be more strategic and you've got to let other people make the decisions.

It's so funny you say that. I've said this a bunch of times to just friends and people that are around me. The traits that I possess that have made me successful, got me this far in life, also make me absolutely difficult to live with and to be around and to love. I'm hard to love. I'm hard to be friends with. It's real work. The people that are around me that have been around me for a long time are genuinely gems of humans because I'm difficult and just hard to be a friend with. And those things are starting to bleed over. And now instead of helping me in my career so much, I think they're hurting me a little bit. And I just need to just step back and just reevaluate. I got to bring other people in. I knew that you weren't going to enjoy it, probably. I knew that Mike was going to think I'm an idiot. But instead of just texting and say, Hey, I took this fight. I need a call.

No, you texted me and you said, Are you working the event? I'm whatever it was. I said, No, I'm not. I'm flying to England. Then that was that. You didn't say what you were doing. Then it was, Harrington goes, he sent me a link on Twitter saying, Anthony's fighting. I was like, Oh, shit. What an F.

Maybe that's what I got to do. I got to maybe do a little bit of sports psychologist things and bring in other people that are... Because listen, you're not afraid to tell me that's a fucking stupid choice, Anthony. What are you doing? That's stupid. You have no problem doing that, which is why I didn't call you, probably.

Yeah, of course.

But then there's guys like my manager or my close friends, my wife, they don't possess the ability to stand up to me in those situations. Not that I bully them or that I'm mean or whatever, but they're easy to convince. You're overbearing a little bit.

So I can say no. They'll probably know that all the reasoning and talking and pleading and whatever will be absolutely pointless. And then the more they do that, it starts to create friction and then bad tempers, flares, and all the.

Rest of it. Oh, you think I can do it?

Yeah, exactly. In the next minute everyone's arguing, is that what that's what he wants to do? All right, well, let's support him. I get that. It's a cruel sport, man. It's a cruel sport. It is. And having that confidence to step in there and fight and dedicate yourself to it is also what makes you do things like that. You just got to know that going forward, it's a tough sport. A lot of people have been saying to me, You need to give them the Joe, Roge and Brendan, Sharp talk. I'm like, What are you talking about? He took a fight on short notice. He rolled the dice. He dared to do something. It didn't pay off. But there's lessons to be learned, and that's always the way. And it's always so cliché to say, but when you make mistakes, and that was a mistake, if you don't mind me saying, in hindsight.

In hindsight, for sure.

You didn't know it was a mistake because it was an educated guess. And you thought, as an educated guess, but you're like, I feel I can do this. I believe in myself. I believe I can do this. And nobody knew until you went out there and did it. And it turns out now with hindsight that that was a mistake. So what do you do? How do you learn from that? How do you make sure you don't make those same mistakes?

How do you make sure that you don't go.

Into a fight unprepared? Because these are the best fighters on planet Earth. Khalil Roundtree was stopping a lot of people in a row. It's a very dangerous opponent. You have to respect everyone that steps in there and know that, Hold on a minute. If I'm not on my A-game, never mind, top 10, top 15, entry-level USC fighter, you know what I mean? These are serious people that need to be respected and you need to respect yourself as well at the same time and all the hard work that you've put in and your family, and your team around you that have been with you every step of the way, if you know what I mean? That's the way you got to try and look at it and be super professional. I think, Right, when I'm in camp, I'm locked in. You say to the USC, I need two, three months or whatever it is, to prepare for this physically and mentally. I really do feel the sports psychologist will really help because I worked with one a little bit. He was called Brian Cain. We didn't do too many sessions, but the mind controls everything. I say that all the time, but it's the most important tool that you have.

And for me, my sports psychologist was Jason Perilloow. He really helped me get my emotions in check and all the rest of it. But it's got to be meticulous moving forward, otherwise you're doing a disservice to all the people around you. But more importantly, yourself, because we all still believe in you. I know you have the ability, Anthony, but if you're going to half-ass it.

Then what's the point? What's the point? Yeah, what's the point? If I'm not going to commit to making the right decision. Anytime I'm in camp, I bust my ass and I show up ready. But if I'm not going to make the other right decisions, then I'm wasting my time. I don't know, it even feels different before. Even in the span fight before that. I don't know, I just feel different right before the fight. I don't know. Did that change for you as you got older?

In what sense? What do you mean? Like less-.

Man, when I was.

Younger- -fearful of the moment?

No, it's almost more. When I was younger, I could not give a fuck less. I couldn't have possibly cared less about what was going to happen in there. I was just hype and I was angry, and I was ready to go. Now I find myself struggling with my emotions a little bit before I walk out. I don't know how I feel. Am I supposed to be hyped up? Am I supposed to be calm? I don't know how I'm supposed to feel. It's the weirdest thing.

I don't know. That's probably a mixture of things because you're getting older, you're maturing, you're around the fire game more. I mean, you've had a lot of fights, so you're used to that environment. When you first start, I always.

Tell fights-I think we're at the fights a lot too, and I think that throws it off. Everything at the apex is so familiar because we're there so much. So you don't have those butterflies when you're walking in because I see all my friends, I'm dabbing up the security guys, and I feel like I'm home. So I don't have this unfamiliar feeling going on when I'm in there, and it's even the same on the road. I think I'm just at so many fights that I'm just so familiar and so comfortable there. Then I get ready to fight and I don't know how I'm supposed to feel because I do feel very, very comfortable, but I know that I'm supposed to be a little bit nervous or hyped up, but I'm not. So then I try to recreate it or try to force it. I don't know. That's where I think the sports psychologist will come in and just help me figure out how do we manage all these feelings and thoughts.

Yeah. All right. Well, listen, took a lot of bravery to come out and say all that, Anthony, and I respect you for it. I do, man. And listen, it's a natural process. You do. You bury your head in the sand, you go away, you don't respond and all the rest of it. But eventually you come crawling back out and you're like, All right, it is what it is, because we're embarrassed. First and foremost. Let's be honest, there's fights, there's men. Battle, combat is something historically that that's what men do or Alpha males do. And you go out there and you talk a good game and you fail, it's embarrassing. I've been there, many people have been there, but for what it's worth, all right, there hasn't been a few fights for a few weeks and I'm losing my mind. I'm having to watch regular sports. I don't understand the rules. But it's almost every week there's boxing and all the rest and people, they do. It happens all the time. And in the wash of traffic and news and all the rest of it, people are forgotten about it. Do you.

Know what I mean? It's you.

You're all that matters. And for you, do you want to do it? Does your family want you to do it? Do you need to do it? If all those answers are yes and you want to do it, then fucking do it. If the answers are no, then don't. And you just got to remember this, because this sounds really bad. Well, not bad to say, but sometimes you're going to take stock and look around at your life and think, Shit, look how good I've got this. You said before, no high school diploma. You're standing on there in ESP and in a suit and you're a bloody good analyst, very one of the best up there. I did the same thing because life gets you down. Sometimes, I've got a great life, I can't complain. But sometimes I feel sorry for myself. Sometimes I bloody still feel like the victim of things or whatever. I remember because I was just in England and we drove down to Heathrow Airport from Clitherow. It's a long road job, about four and a half hours. It doesn't sound long by California or American standards, but in England, that's a long drive, especially when you're going on a long-haul flight.

We're driving down, we set off at midnight. We got to the airport about 4:30 in the morning, and we stopped at a service station on the freeway, on the motorway. When we walked in, I was starving. And all that was open was a McDonald's. That was the only thing there. I don't eat McDonald's. I've had a McDonald's in ages. I went to Rebecca. I'm like, I'm going to get a cheeky McDonald's. She's like, Don't do it, babe. I'm starving. We all ended up getting one. Anyway, point of the storys is, it's three o'clock in the morning with some shitty little service station in the middle of nowhere. And there's this Pakistan guy, he's working there behind the counter. He's dead. We were the only people there. He's got a smile on his face. It's three o'clock in the morning. He was older than me. He's serving me McDonald's and his attitude and his positivity. I was a happy New Year and I was trying to talk to him and all the rest. I walked out and I said, Look at that. This guy, let's be honest, does he want to be working in a McDonald's service station at three o'clock in the morning where there's no customers?

Do you know what I mean? I'm sorry to anyone that does that. I'm not trying to sound insulting, but when you're a kid, you don't think that's where your life is going to be. But he still had a smile on his face. He was so pleasant to deal with, and it made me really take stock of myself and think, Shit, look how lucky I am. Do you know what I mean? So you just got to listen, bad shit happens. And in the grand scheme of things, it's not even that bad.

And that was the last thing that I was going to before I get off my soapbox. I know again, it's going to sound like I've been sitting around, people are going to love that I've been sitting around feeling sorry for myself with my head in the sand, but I haven't been. I've been really just in terms of MMA and being visible in the public and social media and all that stuff, I've been hiding out. But I was on... This would have been three days ago. I was standing in Winter Park, Colorado, at the very top of the mountain at 14,000 feet skiing with my entire family. Must have been nice. Well, I'm not trying to brag. I don't want you to come off like I'm bragging, but I'm just trying to get myself from some perspective, like your McDonald's story. There was a guy that had recognized me, and I was skiing with a friend of mine and my family's there. I had my entire family in this huge trip to Colorado or ever. And this guy recognized me. He's like, Man, I feel so bad for you about your last fight. And we're just getting off the ski lift in front of a restaurant.

It's in skis, a restaurant you can only ski to. And that guy is feeling bad for me. I'm literally on top of the world right now in the most beautiful place I've ever been. It is so arrogant of me to let him feel bad for me. I'm doing fine. Life is good. I'm in a great place overall. My kids are healthy. My wife loves me most of the time. She's nice to me a lot of the time. She's nice to me a lot of the time. I'm very fortunate in all parts of my life. I had one bad night. It fucking happens in this game. It is what it is. We move forward, we move on. But I'm not going to allow myself to feel sorry for myself.

Harness the good energy, block the bad. That's what you got to do. Block the shots, block the uppercut.

-right, yeah, you got to watch out for them uppercuts. Hey, I did a pretty good job checking kicks, though. I did a pretty.

Good job checking kicks, though. You did. I'm expecting to throw more leg kicks. Look, listen, we look forward to the comeback, okay? Don't call it a comeback. You never went anywhere. It is what it is, man. It is what it is. Just learn from this and we get better.

100 %.

Well done. Well set up.

Therapy session over.

Dr. Bisbig, I'm always here. My door is always open and very competitive rates. All right, today's episode is by Shopify, which is something that you need to use, need to take advantage of, need to get involved with. If you're an entrepreneur, if you have a business or you've got an idea for a business, if you've got an idea right now, action it. Take it off the ground. Get it online and do it quick, easy, and conveniently. By the way, do it cheaply as well. Whatever you are selling, you've got to be online. You've got to sell to the entire world. And Shopify covers everything. It also covers every single channel, from an in-person POS system to an all-in-one e-commerce platform. It even lets you sell on TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram. They've got 24/7 customer service help. They've got an extensive library course. Shopify is there to support your success every single step of the way. By the way, it lets you instantly accept every single major payment method as well. So right now, get serious about selling and try Shopify today. Take your business to the next level. Go to Shopify today. Sign up for a one dollar per month trial period at Shopify.

Com/believe or lowercase. One more time. Shopify. Com/believe to take your business to the next level. Shopify. Com/believe for a trial period of one dollar per month. Let me see. There's a lot happened in the world of MMA, though. Should we quick... Harrington, Brian, are we there? Are we here?

Hello. My guys. Sorry I was late. Also, thank you, Harrington, for the vodka and ginger beer and contributing to the current vendor that I'm on.

Yeah, Harrington and Brian, I got to say thank you as well because we got back from England and there's a big old box there. And I'm like, What's this? Do you know what I mean? Actually cut myself by opening the box because it was very well-packaged, but yeah, vodka, wine for Rebecca, tonic mixers. I'm like, This guy has done his homework. Thank you very much. Now I feel like an asshole because I never sent you guys anything. Dude, you sent me to pack and play. My daughter sleeps in every night, so you've done plenty for my family, Michael Bigspank. I had Lymes in there initially, but then you told me you were going to be in England for a week, so I took him out. Yeah, no, thank you. And you actually saved the day, Rebecca said, because as I said, we had a little drink last night, nothing much, but we haven't been to the store. Rebecca hasn't been to Wealths or anything, and she's like, Harrington saves the day. There's a bottle of wine and there's vodka. I'm like, Let's go. And, Brian, of course, it was from you as well. So thank you.

Happy New Year to everybody. We didn't talk about U. F. C. 296. Now we won't get too in-depth on it because it happened a while ago, and I'm sure people are sick of watching other podcasts because we took a little break. By the way, we did take a break, and I think it was needed for me mentally as well, because you're doing it all the time. You're on the grind, you're on the go, doing the YouTube, doing the podcast. I got to W England. I had all my stuff, and I was just like, You know what? I'm going to decompress as well. Anyway, Corbyn Coventon, Leon Edwards, I'm sure you watched, Antony.

I did.

And this is the problem right now because this is probably why people talk shit, because we are analysts and we talk about the sport. When you go out there, particularly now that you still compete, you give a take on a fighter and then they throw it back in your face. Well, look at your fight. Well, that's just the game that we're playing.

Yeah, but no one tells football commentators that, Oh, well, why don't you go throw the ball better? No. Exactly. Just because I can't do what they do doesn't mean I can't talk.

About it. You can be a back seat driver or what do they call? A Monday morning quarterback? Right. All day long. Colby, Converton, Leon Edwards. Well done to Leon, of course. He becomes the first and the only Brit to defend a World Championship two times. So fuck you, Leon. Kidding, of course. Wasn't the most exciting fight. I thought it was a clear-cut victory for Leon Edwards. Colby didn't even show up until that round, what was it, three or four? Until he actually started trying to fight. What did you think?

I haven't ever given a whole lot of consideration to Ringrust in the past, but we've never seen Colby fight like that. His pace was slow, his output was bad. He just didn't show up in the first part of the fight. And maybe that could be, again, I want to give Leon his credit, maybe that's something that he's seen while he was in there. Maybe Leon was giving him a look that he didn't like. It could have been a multitude of different things, but the facts are the same. Kolby didn't fight at all in the first few rounds. So you can't win a fight if you throw away the first three or lose the first three so clearly. And Kolby is not a finisher. You can't lose three rounds at the beginning of the fight and expect to win. You don't have the ability to finish late.

I remember thinking, because I did tales from The Octagon, and a big thank you to everyone that came. London was great. Manchester was absolutely incredible. What a night that was. Oh, my God, the crowd was wild. It was awesome. Thank you all for being there. What an incredible night. We finished. We did the meet and greet, and then we were supposed to go off and have dinner somewhere and celebrate a successful night, and I was just done. I called Rebecca because she stuck around. The meet and greet went on for about two and a half hours. It took a long time. Tom askedand all was funny because we were there and we were doing the meet and greet, and it got to two o'clock in the morning. Tom Aspenow just kept, I'm starving. I'm starving. I'm starving. Then Tom, because he's the nicest guy, you know what I mean? He's the nicest guy. Then he just said to it was to himself, under his breath, he goes, If I don't eat something in a minute, I'm going to hit someone. That's how hungry he was. Do you know what I mean? He didn't actually mean he was going to punch on one.

I just started laughing my head off because I heard it. I called Rebecca, said, What are we doing? We're supposed to go to a restaurant. She goes, I've ordered room service. I'm like, Great, bollocks to it. Then Darz, who was with Darz, Marz, thank you. He's like, Mike, don't feel under pressure. He said, I'm tired as well. I went back, we ordered room service. I sat there, stuff and fries and a club sandwich down my throat at two o'clock in the morning. The fight started. Everyone went to sleep and I watched the fight. I'm led there and I was thinking just to go back to what we were talking about. Because Colby wasn't shooting. Now, of course, that's his path to victory. But sometimes, and you'll know this, when you're there and you're in front of an opponent like León, who's fast, who's long, who's moving a certain way, who isn't presenting himself as a target, who's just doing little tiny, subtle things, you don't feel that everything's perfect to shoot. If I shoot now, he's going to knee, he's going to uppercut. He's not, Damn, he's not where I wanted him to be in my mind.

How I prepared for this fight. He's not conforming with the game plan that I had in my mind. So yes, it wasn't Colby attempting, but some of that's good. You got to give credit to Leon for the way that he was moving and maybe just slight little tiny little things that was putting doubt in the mind of Colby, Covington.

Yeah, there was something he was seeing that was not making him feel good. And again, I did bring it up as bring rust, but that could be he just hasn't been in there to be comfortable. So on top of him, you're not being in there for a while. You got just a little bit rusty. And the timing and the speed is different when you fight. You can't replicate fight speed and stuff in practice. So it'll take you a little bit to get your bearings. But I do think that Leon was showing him something that he didn't like. And Leon does a good job. He's never static, ever. You see him flashing the uppercut or he's checking the knee. He did it right before he kicked Camaro, even. He kept going to the body, going to the leg, going to the leg, going to the leg. And then he'll just turn that hip down or turn that knee down. And Camaro's reacting to it. He does that a lot. He constantly is pulling reactions out of people. And I think that Kobe just really struggled with that.

I know so a lot, maybe. I mean, we don't know mentally what was going on in Kobe's mind. Perhaps it's something, and this happens and you'll know what I'm talking about. You go to take someone down, you get in a little bit, you clinch, and they throw you off. They defend it so easily that you're shocked. You think, Shit, he was strong. He felt aggressive. He felt powerful. And that diminishes your own confidence. And again, that's credit to Leon. It really is. So listen, wasn't exactly a burn, burner of a fight, but it was a solid defense. He got the job done. Leon Edwards is still the champ. I don't want to shit on Colby, Covington, but there were some pretty nasty things said leading up to that. And he was pretty nasty on the microphone afterwards as well. He said, Yeah, you're all boo and you're all just a bunch of broke bitches. I think that's what he said on the microphone. That is not his way to endear himself to the fanbase. No, that's a.

Quick turn. Do you think he's just in too deep to his character and he just thinks he has to double down to get any heat back?

I don't know. I don't know, because generally, at times with Fires, you have the trash talk, you have all of that bravado, you have the wild things that you say leading up to it. And we've seen this throughout the history of combat sports. But when it's all said and done, when you finish throwing down, win or lose, you generally, generally, there's an embrace, there's a respect. And yeah, people are booing, but you're just going to take that. Calling everybody broke bitches because they're not in the position that you are is not going to help him. And I know there's been a massive PR backlash. And then, of course, he brought up Leon's father. I like Hoby. I've had a couple of long conversations with him, and I thought he was fantastic. He came on my YouTube channel. We did a long chat there, and I've had personal interactions, but he didn't handle that well bringing up Leon's dead father. That was a low blow. There's just certain things you don't talk about.

Well, Sean Strickland just recently came out and said that hes on Theo's podcast, I think.

Are you talking about Drakez?

Yeah. And he said there are some lines you just don't cross. I think some of those lines are gray and people jump back and forth a little bit, but there's a couple that are pretty hard and fast. There it is right there. There's the quote. Sean said, There are some things that are off limits. You don't really talk about a man's wife. You don't talk about a man's kids. You don't talk about a kid being abused. These things are all off limits. Once he crossed that, I tried to fucking ignore it. I was boiling. Blah, blah, blah, blah. And he goes on and talks about it. But I think those lines are ones you don't cross. And you know what it reminded me of? You remember when Connor broke his leg and he was sitting there on his ass in the octagon screaming up at Dustin.

Your wife sent me DMs.

Your wife sent me DMs. It was almost like he had run out of everything else and he couldn't... Connor has always been very funny, very quick-witted, very clever, and almost tongue-in-cheek, a little bit like Chale. Like very tongue-in-cheek, very funny, very quick with it. But when Conor went that route, you could just tell he was just defeated and deflated and just latched out with just fire. That's what I felt like with Kolby. He was uncomfortable. He felt like he was losing those interactions, and he just spit fire because he was out of everything else.

With Connor there, I think what happened there was that obviously he lost the fight. He's got a broken leg. He can't even stand and give the interview with Logan. Logan's going to come down to his level and do it on the ground. You're embarrassed, as we've discussed at length. His pride is fucking hurt. He's Connor McGregor. He's the big star. And he's like, How can I hurt this guy the fucking most? What is the fucking worst shit that I can come out with right now to embarrass him and try and make him feel bad in that moment? And there's nothing worse to say, Your wife has been in my DMs, bro. You know what I'm saying? That was just like the adrenaline and the frustration and the anger all coming out and that, boom, there it is right there. And again, that's just human emotion. When people come out with shit like that, we're not in control of ourselves. I've said things that I definitely, and I still do to this day, and that's why I'm trying to work on it. I don't mean. I do not mean. When you're angry like that, the shit that comes out of your mouth, you're not in control of it.

It's almost like another person. Now, granted, that doesn't get you off in court or if you get sued or slandered or you get fired or whatever, it's like, Well, you said it. You've got to be man enough to own it. But it's like for some people, and definitely I'm one of them, sometimes I'm better on it these days. But when you see red, when you're in that red zone, fucking everything's on the table. Not everything's on the table. Everything's on the table and stuff that doesn't even exist is on the table. I'm going to say all kinds of shit that I don't even believe.

You're just making shit up.

Oh, God. I was going to say a story there, but I'm not going to go into it. I'm just not because it's too long and people don't know the guy. But yeah, exactly. But it's funny talking that you bring up Sean Strickland and Drickist. Obviously, they had that little throwdown at 296. What do you think about this, though? Because Sean, he got emotional on Theo Van's podcast. And of course he did because Sean plays this character. I don't mean plays this character. This is the character that he puts forward. But of course, he has his emotions and he has his deep thoughts and maybe dark thoughts, of course, and he's very open with them. He came on the podcast a while ago with Harrington before you run and threatened to kill Harrington and all the rest of it in a very, very jovial way, as only Sean Strickling can do. But when you're talking about childhood abuse, of course, it's going to trigger emotions. Of course, you're going to get emotional and there's no shame in that. But speaking of Kaleel Roundtree, where I'm going with this, remember when Kaleel got emotional at a press conference and Sean came out and was calling him a beta male and all this stuff, you know what I mean?

He's opened himself to a little bit of criticism. I don't think there's anything wrong with showing emotion. I think people will respect him more for that. But this is just a fight game. People are going to talk shit back in regard, in response. Oh, yeah.

Even in that quote, he said, You don't talk about people's lives. You're like, Wait a minute, Sean. I like you a lot, but you're the one that has been lighting this fire about Ian and Gary's wife for like a while. Oh, God. It doesn't really work, but-.

Because you don't talk about people's wives. You don't. Jorge Rivera did that to me, and that was the one time when it was all said and done. The fight wasn't over. I was like, You can still kiss my ass. Go home, you loser.

I would never make it to a fight. I would never make it to him. I would never.

Make it to him. I would show up at the house. I said, This is this year. If I see him on the street, I'm going to beat the shit out of him. I have not come here for a mixed martial arts contest. I've come to beat him to piss.

I thought it was nice seeing Sean. I thought it was nice seeing Sean. I've always thought... I hope Sean doesn't see this and get upset. But as a person who maybe not in exact scenarios, but in very similar... I don't know why I'm trying to say this. He had a different situation with his dad growing up, but I think the level of severity that I have with mine is very similar, different scenarios, but just as damaging, I think. I've always looked at Sean like, I know why you are the way you are. Just on a couple of things that he said in the past and the way that he reacts to some things, I understand Sean. That's why I think we've always had a very... I think we understand each other better than maybe most. Are you talking about me and you? No, me and Sean.

Oh, Jesus Christ. I thought we were having a real connection there, actually.

Well, maybe. But I just had a very tumultuous, damaging relationship with my father as well. I just understood him. I know people like Sean, and they're in very similar positions, at least as far as the trauma they went through, so I understand him. But I was happy to see him just let a little bit of that out on Theo's podcast because I think now maybe other people will understand him. He is the way he is because he had to create that to protect himself.

That's a good way of putting it.

He's had to create whatever he is today, I believe, and I'm not going to speak for him or anything like that, and maybe I'm totally wrong. But I believe that Sean is the way he is because he's had to create that person to protect himself when he was younger and just grew into a man. And fortunately, he found a place to let it out, and he found a place where he's accepted for that. He's made a living. He's become a world champion. He is a rich man now. He got very fortunate because there's a lot of guys like Sean in prison that didn't end up in the situations that we're all in right now. I'm happy he let it out because I hope that other people can see like, Oh, wow, that guy's in a lot of pain. He said to create this person to protect himself and credit to Theo for handling it really well, too, and just letting him do his thing. Sometimes you got to get it out, and then you just move on. I hope he doesn't catch too much shit about it, but I'm glad he let it out a little bit.

Well, that's what I was going to say. I was going to say it's a defense mechanism. You basically said exactly that, but in a different way.

You have to survive. He had to find a way to survive.

But that's what we all do. And I think this is probably a key moment for you where you can definitely relate given current recent circumstances, fighters like that, given most fighters, most fighters, I'm not saying they're all as bad as the situation that Sean Strickland went through, but look at Mike Tyson. Those tough backgrounds and those hardships and the adversity, I grew up around a fair bit of violence and all the rest of it a lot, and it creates this person. And as a defense mechanism, you become a different type of person and you shield everything off and you become the tough guy, and you put on this armor that nothing affects you. I think a lot of fighters, deep down, are very insecure. I'm an insecure person, but I shield that with being overly confident, like nothing bothers me. Everything fucking bothers me. My wife knows that. Do you know what I mean? I'm very insecure. And maybe some people can see that. But a lot of the brashness comes to shield that because of shit that happened probably when you were a child or what you've been through. Now, my life is great, so I'm not talking about me, but I think a lot of fighters, that's why.

That becomes who they are. It becomes their identity. Then they are rewarded because they start to get acclaimed. They start to get popularity. As you said, Sean has become champion of the world. So then it gets bigger and bigger and bigger. You put on another coat of paint, another suit of armor, and then you accentuate that even further. And before you're not this fucking mad man running around getting into fights with Drickis du Plessie, because that's who the.

Fuck you are. With a million dollars in the bank.

But deep down inside here, you want to cry like a little boy.

I had someone tell me one time, and this is one of the smartest things I've ever heard anybody say. When you're a kid and you're growing up, that's like when everything is implanted in your identity, like who you are. People are either doing one of two things. They're either thriving or they're surviving. And that never changes. No matter what happens to you and no matter how successful you are in life, in your upbringing, in your childhood, if you are a survivor, if you're put in that surviving situation where you just have to do whatever you have to do to make it and survive and get on to the rest of your life or get on to the next day in some cases, that's ingrained in you. So if Sean was surviving and just trying to create whatever he had to change in his mental and in his body to just make it, he still feels like that today. Now that he's made it and now that he's got money in the bank and a world title, he still feels like he's just trying to survive and just trying to make it. That's probably why he is the way he is.

It's why I am the way that I am, where I never feel like it's enough. Because I've spent my entire life in that surviving mindset that even when you don't have to just survive anymore, you can't get out of it. But people that thrive and have a great upbringing, that's why I've tried to be such a good parent. I want my kids to always be in that thriving mindset where everything is moving forward and going well, and then you just continue to thrive until you're a successful human being and a successful part of civilization. And then you go on and hopefully you pass that on to your kids. But you don't want to continue to pass on that surviving mindset because you never really create a truly happy person.

Well, and the thing is as well is that I think a lot of fighters, and I'm speaking from my experiences and I'm assuming probably Sean Strickland as well, you go living imposter syndrome, you know what I mean? Because you're like, This isn't who I am.

100.

Percent. I'm not this famous. I'm not supposed to be famous. I'm not supposed to be popular. I'm not supposed to have my face on posters. I went to fucking prison when I was younger, do you know what I mean? And as you said before, if it wasn't for the USC, I was definitely going down a very dark path. Thankfully to Rebecca, that I managed to turn things around. But I think a lot of fights, they are, and they're still living that imposter syndrome deep down inside themselves if they're very honest about it and they're like, Shit, we've turned this around. We're doing great, but fuck. Deep down, I'm still just a piece of shit.

I'm just afraid of losing it. If you look at.

Other athletes- I don't like going back to my hometown sometimes because I'm constantly reminded of the version of myself that I used to be. Do you know what I mean? Yeah. It's nice to be out here in California because everyone just knows me for the new version. I was a little shit when I was younger, do you know what I mean?

Yeah, that's why I don't like going to my hometown all the time. Yeah, exactly. Familiar faces, familiar places. You're like, Oh, I could fuck my life up in a week here.

Oh, 100 %. 100 %.

Very, very easy. If you look at other athletes and other sports too, you can tell the difference between us and them. I'm speaking to your imposter syndrome thing. I think people probably have this not just in sports, but just in life in general, in regular jobs. But whenever you're around football players or basketball players or just.

Really- Golfers, tennis players.

-high-level athletes, they're like, this isn't anything crazy to them because throughout their entire life-.

Well.

They're groups.

From an early age.

-they've been special. So they've been thriving through their entire childhood. These football players, these basketball players, they've been great their whole life. They've been moved on along this path. They're exactly where they're supposed to be. It's not that big of a shock for a lot of them when they end up in the NBA or the NFL because they knew when they were in middle school.

Well, they were seven folks all at middle school.

Right. That's where they were going to be.

His name was LeBron. You're going to be in the NBA, son.

They're preparing for the NBA in middle school. We're just trying to fucking make it to the next day.

100 %. And as you said, these golfers, these tennis players or whatever, most of those sports, you show a talent and then you are groomed. The school takes an interest, your parents take an interest, and everything is just preparing you to become a professional and to be one of the best in the world at that. Mixed martial arts is a very different thing. Boxing is a very different thing as well. That's why, though, it is as real as it gets. And that's why you do get... No, that's why you get some wild shit at the press conferences because they haven't gone through all the PR training. They haven't been around these great schools. They haven't had been a part of these programs where they go to fancy country clubs or the tennis courts or swimming meets and all the rest of it. You've been around fucking maniacs. And then even when you get to the gym, you're around other maniacs and you have a set of fucking thieves all banded together in a gym practicing violence every day. And the shit that gets said in the gym, if you think that's mad at a press conference, you want to hear what gets said in the fucking gym, you know what I mean?

Because it's times 10. It's way worse. You know what I mean?

And then they throw us out. And then they throw us out into civilization in front of the world, put a camera in your face. With a microphone. Yeah, start asking you crazy questions. They're like, Why would he talk like that? Are you serious? Wow. Do you know where I came from?

He needs counseling. That was why on a tale from The Octagon, I talked about the nasty shit in the fight game, and I went through some stuff because I was talking about the Ian, Gary stuff and all the backlash, etc, etc. And I said, But this is the fight game. This is what people do. I went through some certain examples and the crème de la crème, the piece de resistance was... I played a clip of Mike Tyson. Mike Tyson, I think it was when he fought Lennox Lewis, a brawl escalated and a reporter said to him, You need to be in a strait jacket. And he goes off on one. Oh, yeah, you want a real man? I will F you until you.

Love me.

Love me. Right? You're in.

The hard F word.

In the hard F, which we're not going to say because we're going to get canceled beyond belief and thrown off YouTube, which is ridiculous. I went through and I'm finished with that one because we're wild people at the end of the day. All right, today we're going to talk about Fitbod, which is the smart workout app that you have on your phone that will create custom dynamic exercise programs for you based on your goals, your experience, and your equipment. It gives you varied routines as well, so you avoid over training and it does it cheaper. They also have an algorithm on there which uses data and analytics to scientifically build your next best workout so you can maximize results. You can also see your muscle usage, recovery, achievements, and workout streaks right there in the app. And you are in control because the workouts are designed just for you, so you're getting precisely what you need. By the way, access to Fitbod for one year will cost you less than one session with a personal trainer. You can get a full year of personalized workouts with FitBod, fit exercise into your schedule and learn how to do the workouts as well because Fitbod, it works with any Android or iOS device.

By the way, the app's super easy to use because it has HD video tutorials with thousands of videos right there showing the exercises and showing the exercises, which you can do with the available equipment. So if you're just in a garage, you're in the park, you're at home, you're in a hotel room, it will show you a workout with what you have available and it will teach you how to do it so you don't get injured. So sign up to Fitmod right now and get 25 % off when you go to fitmod. Me/believe. That is 25 % of this. Start 2024 the right way with a bank, with the workouts, which are cheap, which you can try for free. You can try it out for free when you go to fitbod. Me/believe and you'll get 25 % off the subscription by going to fitbod. Me/believe. All right, so you probably saw as well, Anthony, at the weekend. I mean, Connor McGregor hyped it. He said, I'm going to be making my fight announcement New Year's Day. Sure enough, he did that. I don't think anyone was surprised. This fight has been lined up for about 17 years.

Connor McGregor, Michael Chanler, International Fight Week, not in July. It will be on June 29th at 1:85.

What was that laugh?

His laugh was weird.

I know. He's just trying to be a dick because he said, You'll do what you're told. And he is doing what he's told. No wonder it's 185 because Connor McGregor's arm, I only saw his arm, but it looked a little flabby-dabby.

Did it? I didn't look that close to be honest with you.

I mean, it looks thick, and I'm not hating, but he looks a little soft there.

He looks heavy. He looks heavy.

Yeah. Yeah, he's definitely bigger. Brendan Loughlin, who was attails from the octagon. Thank you for that, Brendan. I love that dude. I like that guy. He's amazing. He said he's done a little training with him out in Dubai. He said, Yeah, he's big. He's at least 200 pounds. What do you think of that? Because I'm looking forward to the fight. Mcgregor is super exciting. He's certainly got plenty of time to get ready. And listen, I'm a bit soft right now. It's just been Christmas, so I'm not throwing any shade. 200 pounds, sorry, 185 pounds is not his weight class. Now, it will be a cool thing to say that he fought in four weight classes. I think Kerry, Florian, and Diego Sanchez are the only other ones, there might be another, that did that. Now, he fought at 145, went up to 155, 185. That is not his optimal weight class. Now, granted, he's fighting another lightweight.

In.

Michael Chanler. The problem is, though, is that, as I say, it's not your optimal weight class, so they're going to be carrying more weight. And if you're Connor, and I'm not hating on Connor, and I'm really excited for the fight because he's the most exciting guy, he is, because of the energy and the presence and the hype and the performances, you know what I mean? We're not losing. There's been losses recently. There's still big moments, and the comeback is going to be something special. It really is. But I think with all that extra weight, it's going to be an issue because not only making weight sucks, but making weight also insists on discipline because you have to. If I was going to make 185 pounds, I had to do my road work. I had to follow a strict diet. I had to make sure I was getting my ass in the gym because I'm not going to make weight. You can be 185 pounds when you fight at 145 or 155. There's not that subconscious threat of missing weight, of not being successful, of having the big comeback, the greatest comebacks in the history of sports, be a failure.

Because having to make way makes you disciplined. It makes you live that monk lifestyle that fight is endure and go through, as what we talked about before with the full training camp with yourself. And then on top of that, he's not known for having the best cardio. But when you carry an extra weight, whether it's muscle or fat, it's going to tie you down. It's going to slow you down, and it's going to definitely affect your endurance.

Well, those things are going to affect both of them. I do get the vibe that Michael Chanler is a little more disciplined, though.

In terms of- Well, that's an easy vibe to catch.

I was trying to be nice about it.

He's a monk 24-7.

24-7.

In a good way.

And he can be 185 pounds. You're right with the conditioning thing. Connor's never been known to be able to push it really, really hard and not... At the end of five rounds, he is tired. Michael Chanler fights at a really high pace. I think it would be a bigger deal if Connor was more of a wrestler. It benefits Michael Chanler for it to be a 185 more than it does Connor, in my opinion.

Yeah, because Connor relies on fast, explosive, timing, striking.

And just carrying that extra weight, it's going to slow you down just a little bit.

Well, it's not going to slow down a little bit. It's going to slow down significantly.

It's going to be noticeable. You're not going to be as fast. You're not going to be as sharp, and you're not going to have to punish yourself every day to get down to that weight class, which therefore, again, impacts the body. But it.

Impacts the body. And his footwork is not going to be the same either. He's going to be a little more plotting, and he's going to have to be because he's carrying the extra weight that he's not used to carrying. So it's a technique thing, too. The techniques that he does and the way that he fights and the footwork that he fights with and the sliding in and sliding out, doing that 30 pounds heavier is different. He hasn't done it at fight speed in a competition 30 pounds heavier. He's never done that. It's going to be different, and it's going to look different, and it's going to feel different when he's in there. Even if he convinced himself that he does it.

Well, he is going to convince himself because, of course, he is. Because that's what we do, as we've talked about at great length today. We convince ourselves. With all that said, I'm still very excited about it. It's going to be an incredible event. I can't wait to see him back. And Michael Chanler, I'm happy for him because he waited on the sidelines and people have been talking that he's sitting there like a good little boy. Well, listen, he's going to get a massive payday out of it. I'm assuming he's going to get cut at the pay-per-view. I'm sure that was agreed a long time ago, and that's why he's been waiting. And McGregor, for as inactive as he is, that's why there's such spectacles. If he was fighting every other month, you could miss that one. Well, he's coming back and it's been a long time and there's a big story. And is he going to be the greatest comeback? It's going to be at 185. It's after a season of The ultimate fighter, he was the double champ. He's got the country of Ireland behind him and the whole world is invested in the story.

So it's going to be an incredible event and I cannot wait for it. As a man that has experienced this, though, Joe Regan, I saw him talking, I forget who it was, about people that have broken their legs and saying they're never the same. Actually, there's a question to ask you there as well. But how do you think he's going to be? I mean, his, I think, was a bit worse than yours, right?

Yeah, his is definitely worse than mine.

Whiteman, Anderson Silver, they all said they were never the same. What do you think? Do you think that will play any impact on him? Yeah. Or have an impact?

Absolutely. What impact and how bad of an impact is going to have? I don't know. But he's different. I have no evidence of that. I haven't seen anything that's shown that he's different, but he knows it. He can feel it. He moves different. It's not the same. Andthat's leg injuries, knee injuries, that's just how they are. Some are better than others. Sometimes you can get away with you could do good rehab and the injury is not as bad. Sometimes with knee, like ligament stuff, you can get away with feeling pretty much 100 %. Like really wicked bone injuries, it's never the same. There's arthritis, there's a new bone growth. It looks different. It feels different. It's different. I don't move the same. Now, am I less than I was before? I don't know that I would say that now. I think I'm probably pretty close to the same level, but it's different. It changes the way I have to do some things, for sure. And that's down to little things like guard passing. It's a little bit different because I don't have the same mobility and feeling sometimes with my lower leg, bone, and ankle.

And sometimes the kicking is a little bit different. Instead of flex in your foot or pointing your toes, you got to flex it. There's just some different things you're going to have to do. And his was way worse than mine. So all those things are a lot different for him.

I guess the only thing he's.

Saying- And Wyman will tell you- -he's very honest. He's very honest that he's as healed as he's going to get, and it's nowhere close to 100 %.

As I said, I guess we shall wait and see. And again, that's part of the mistake.

We may not notice it. You know what I mean? He may have to make adjustments and do things a little bit different, and we may not notice it, just seeing it, but he can feel it and he knows it.

So there hasn't been any U-of-C events since what? December 16th? Was that the last one? It was December 16th. What have have you been doing with your free time? Antony, sorry, Brian and Harrington jump on the show, guys. Let's have a conversation, the four of us, because the believers have missed you both also. What has everyone been doing with themselves? Because no podcast, no USC. All right, it's been Christmas, a new year. But, Bryan, how have you been filling your time? Obviously, missing Anthony and Matt's face, but other than that.

Absolutely. But I mean, it hasn't been too much different. I have other shows that I work on, and I was just doing some extra shit for those guys. So just work, work, work. Work, work. That's what I do.

Herringbone? I had just extended family time. It was baby's first Christmas, so it was just on overdrive. All the family had to stop by to see the baby at some point. So it was just a lot of appointments, seeing family and stuff like that. And we made it out to Philly for New Year's. Had a blast. It's funny that you mentioned babies because we now have a baby living in our house. A newborn baby. Yeah. What a baby is that? Wait, what? Yeah. It's not- You.

Found the baby? You found the baby?

No, a girl that used to live with us is living with us again now, and she's got a newborn baby. So Rebecca is in a bloody element. She is in her element because she's playing mom and all the rest of it. And I'm now reverting back to a house with a crying baby and diapers and all of that good stuff and breast milk in the fridge. You know what I mean? I'm like, He's gone back 20 years. You have your.

Coffee in the morning.

Yeah, I've said there's a fridge in the garage. I'm like, Put all that stuff in there, okay? Because I don't need that extra sweet stuff. Should we ask Harrington for a non-MMA story? Antony, do we dare?

Yeah.

We'll do. I mean, I said to him, I said, Listen, you're going to have to start sending them to me via text so we can sign off on these. But just for shits and gigs, give us the number two about this Beverly Hills guy. Okay, so- And hopefully we have the video because I saw it. Yeah, it's rough wording for the headline here, but 9-0-1-0 actor, Ian Zerling, he took on four people in what the headline I read said, a motorcycle gang in a road rage incident.

I've seen this.

Yeah.

Oh, they beat his ass.

I mean, he'sholding his own.

Oh! Hey!

Brian. So basically, he just continues nice little footslide attempt. Now go right to the start because now we know who were watching. It's the guy in the gray, stripy, sweat. And then before you press play, Who the hell? What's his name? Ian Zerling? Are you familiar with this guy, people?

Yeah, I watched 90210 when you were a child. He was the blonde dude.

Right. No, I didn't watch it in the 90s Star Fair play to him, you know what I mean? But I'm not familiar with him. But I'll say because I saw the TMG headline on Twitter and it said attacked, assaulted and all the rest of it. Now we don't know what happened before, but if you look at the guy in the gray, he throws the first punch, in my opinion.

Yeah, because it happens right here.

Yeah, that's why.

It looks like he's pulling the dude off of his bike. Yeah, it looks like he started it.

Yeah, and then he hits him and then walks off. And then they're all like, Hold on a minute, buddy.

No, no, no, no. On your little nerd bikes. Yeah.

That's like a gang of midgets. And you shouldn't say that. But sorry, a gang of midgets attacking you. You know what I mean? Jumping out of the cannon.

Fighting a bunch of dudes and helmets is tough. Yeah, this guy's about to swing it too. Look at him. He wipes it off first. Wipe the helmet off before he's going to swing it at someone's head. I got a buddy that drives these little tiny, I don't know what they're called, little gromes and little, I don't know what the other kinds. But I got a buddy that rides those things. They do travel on packs too. They're a bunch of just a little nerdy gang members. Yeah.

What was that? I don't know. I was trying to think of a TV show. Was it Biker Mice from Mars or something? Have you.

Seen that? That was a TV show. I didn't even realize how silly these little bikes are.

Yeah, look at.

The tiny. I mean.

It's an embarrassing story, isn't it, for this guy? Because number one, he threw the first punch, then he gets his arsecap, then he has to run off and say, What were Hells Angels? No. And I believe from what I read, they were all women on miniature bikes.

No, they're all women.

That's what I heard. I don't know.

If they are all women. I hope so. I hope so, because that's even better.

I mean, bro, 2023, a 110-pound female could beat the rock up.

I've seen... So when we were in... This has nothing to do with anything that you said 2023, reminded me of it. We went to this barbecue place when we were in Colorado, and it's a small little mountain town, so there's not a whole lot of room for there's a big group of us. So there's not a whole lot of room to sit down. So everyone just went and got different stuff. So me and my friend Sean went to this barbecue place to get stuff for me, him and his wife and my wife. And we're sitting there, we're standing at the bar waiting for our food to come. I don't know how to say this without sounding racist. A guy not from America. Easy. A guy not from America. Like an immigrant? Like an Asian guy who didn't.

Speak Gregan English. Documented over the border, 10,000 a.

Day, not getting checked? It was an Asian guy that didn't speak great English. So he asked the bar... Again, it's a small little mountain town. These are locals. And he asked the guy, Hey, where's the bathroom? And so the guy points at the bathroom like annoyed that even asked the bathrooms are right there.

There's a sign. Can't read English to be fair.

And he looks at the doors and they both look the same. In Colorado, most of the bathrooms are gender neutral. It's either or whatever. They're just bathrooms. And so he comes back and he goes, Which bathroom do I want to do? Do I go into? And he was like, Either one of them. And he was like, Well, they both look the same. He goes, Just pick one. It's 2023 who gives a shit.

Who said that, you buddy?

No, the guy that was working at the restaurant. He was super annoyed.

Just pick one who gives a shit. Well, I wouldn't if my daughter was in there and she was three years old, but whatever. I don't want to get into all that stuff. 2024, a new year, a new calendar of fights. What are fights, in your opinion? And we'll throw this to the panel. Join us on the show, please, guys. I'll start the ball rolling. 2024, what fights, in our opinion, need to happen? I'm going to say this, Tom Aspinol, John Jones, and I'm not foregoing the threat of Steve Pee and Mia Chitch.

I was going to go John Jones, Stipe so that we can move Tom into whoever he has to fight, because I wouldn't be fighting with either.

Well, I want to see that fight. But I want to see the interim champion, the man that's going to belt around his waist get to fight the actual champion. I guess Tom versus whoever wins that one. Don't get me wrong. We're all excited for John versus Steepe, and it's going to happen. But they have to... Whoever wins that... If Steve-N wins that fight, because I know he's planning on retiring and Jones has flirted with that, but they can't retire. If they retire, if they retire, that is going to be, I'm not going to say an act of cowardice, but it's not going to look good.

Yeah, it'd be a travesty for Tom too, to not be able to get one of those guys.

We're just real quickly on that on tails from the octagon. I said, What are you going to do? Are you going to defend the interim belt? And he's like, No, I'm going to wait for John Jones or Steepe. And I said, Tom, with respect, what are you doing? There's no one near your level. There's some competition. Don't get me wrong, but in my estimation, he's up here. There's Cyril-Garned. There's some interesting matchups, whatever. But you could just chip away, beating contenders or lower-level guys. Collegesing big, big, big money, pay-per-view points and two, three title defenses you cannot be denied. And then the story is getting bigger and bigger and bigger and you're making fucking money whilst you're in your prime. And he's like, No, I want to wait for Jones. And I was like, I think you're crazy, bro.

Yeah, maybe.

Give me a fight that has to happen in 2024. I mean, it's so tough to follow that up. You're talking about joining the heavyweight title. I wanted to see a couple of contenders matched up. Brendan Allen, number eight in the middleway division versus Jared Cannoneer. I think that's a super fun fight. Can we all disagree that that's the most Harrington answer ever?

That's a great fight. That's the most Harrington shit I've ever heard.

I'll say, is there any breaking news? And he'll say, Well- I have.

A really great idea for a combating event at the apex.

I'll say, Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'll always say, Is there any breaking news? And he'll say, Oh, yeah, this just in. And I can't think of them. Two unranked flyways that no one's ever heard of has just been announced. And I'm like, Okay, no, I mean, breaking news, bro. And there he is, co-main event of the Apex. Brian, fight that should happen in 2024.

I don't know if it should happen, but I'm pretty sure it's going to happen, which is I think we're going to see Israel, Adesanye, and Perera fight again at Light Heavyweight. That's a good one. Like I said, I don't know if it should happen, but I'm pretty sure it's.

Going to. I have another good one, but I'm not going to.

Jump in just yet. I have another good one, too.

Mr. Lionheart Smith has to go.

I want to see Leon Edwards, Shavkat, Roxmanov. Yikes.

You're forgetting the name.

What name? You're forgetting the name. I can't remember the name.

The loud Muhammad.

Listen, that's... Yeah, I mean, he deserves a title shot. Then get it or don't.

Think of the jiggly. Is that okay? Sure.

No, he does. But there's a reason they're not giving it to him yet. I don't know what that is. I hope he gets it. I hope he does.

I think he is.

I think he is, right? I'm pretty sure Dana said pretty emphatically that Bilal is next. I hope so.

I think I saw that too, Bryan.

He's done enough. I'm not hating on it, but he's not. So if he's not going to get it, then that's the fight I want to see. Stylistically, I like the Leon-Shav-Cat fight.

It's the same. No, same. And if judging by the first Leone-Bilal fight, as short as it was, it's probably going to be the same. I think Bilal, actually, I just saw on Instagram, he's off to Daeguistan to prepare for that fight. So expect a dangerous Bilal. Shav-cat is probably a guy that everyone wants to see fight for a belt. I'll throw you another one. Just engage it, Islam, Mahachev.

Yeah, definitely.

It's got to happen. It's got to happen. Do you think with Islam? Because there was talk of Olivera, right? But is that off the.

Table now? I think Olivera was next. At least that's what Dana said initially, but I don't know now.

Did I see something somewhere on Instagram about Olivera and Arman Saar-Roukian, or am I out of my mind? That's a.

Group fight.

They both announced that they had their comeback date scheduled on the same day on Twitter within hours of each other, which led to people speculating that those two were going to fight. I see. I see. Okay, well, Justin versus Islam, I think that's the one that needs to happen. No offense to du-branc, Charles of Olivera. How many of you? I'm just going to give you a free will. Throw a story at us. Let's see what he comes up with.

Let's see. I have one more. Brian got out here quick.

Okay, okay. I know, Brian, I.

Have to go. I got to pull it up, so I don't want to just be sitting here staring off to the side of you guys.

I want to add one more. Go ahead. I want to redeem myself. Hold on. Is it Diana Belbita? Yeah. Versus... I don't want to say anyone's name. I can't think of anyone. Macy Barber, Molly McCann, obviously. No, no, no. Camaru Ousman. I want to see Usman fight Strickland again. I think he needs a win at 185, but it's right there for him. Bo Nicle, hams at, Jimiak. Boom.

That's a good one. That's a really good one. You've got to get through Cody Brandish, though. I'd actually pay for that fight. You're going to pay for them all anyways.

Your boy Cody Brandish coming in hot. That should be an interesting matchup, actually. We're filled enough. Give us a story. Okay. I think this is the biggest one just dropped last night. Jorge Masvidal announced on Twitter that he is officially un-retired.

Masvidal versus Colby Covington. Let's go.

The rematch. The rematch in court. How do we feel about this? Listen, I have a lot of respect for Masvidal. He's a real fighter. Certainly, as the sports got bigger and it attracts, sometimes not the type of people that we were describing before. I'm not saying that's a bad thing, but as the sport is widening, it's opening, it's presenting itself as an opportunity. You're getting people that look at this and go, I can be a martial artist. Kind of like the Beverly Hills Ninja-type guy. You know what I mean? What was his name? Not shitting on him, but not guys that are tough with faces like ours. You know what I mean? What were we talking about? I just.

Had a total brain farm.

Masvidal. Masvidal. Jesus Christ. Masvidal comes from the bloody Backyard Brawls with Kimbo Slice. I mean, that dude is real fire and he's had an incredible career and what a resurgence he had when he knocked out Darren Till and then became the BMF and the fastest knockout of all time. But I think he retired for a reason.

Yeah, I really thought his reason was after he lost to Kobe, me. He didn't really see a path to the title. And that's how I always looked at it. But listen, man, he wasn't getting knocked out repeatedly. He hadn't taken a whole shit ton of losses back to back. He was in that Kolby fight too. He had Kolby hurt late. So I don't know, if he wants to do it, I'm down for the experiment. Let's see at one time and maybe make the evaluation after that.

I mean, listen, he's 39 years old. I mean, look, listen, I'm not going to hate on the guy. And as you say, I'm just looking at it now. He lost four in a row. But that was two shots against Camar, Oizman. One of them, which was on very short notice, remember, Fire Island. Then it was Colby, Covington, excuse me. And then he lost to Gilbert Burns by decision. Right. There's absolutely no shame in that. I think he made a lot of money, from what I understand. I don't think he's necessarily motivated by that. I think fighters, when they retire, it's hard. For me, I talk about it all the time. That's why I love commentating so much, because I'm still involved with the sport. I still get that adrenaline. I still get that high. I love walking into the oxygen and interviewing the fights because again, goes back to what we said about the ego of a fighter. You're still going to be involved, still going to do something. I've got that. Whereas, Maz Vidal, he's doing his shows and all the rest of it, and I hope they're going really well for him, but you need that.

You still want to be in the limelight. You still want to get that attention. You need that adrenaline buzz. And he probably still thinks, Hold on a minute. It's been a little bit of time. What was it? How long since his last fight? All right, eight months. I've still got this. I can still do this. He probably looks at some competition and thinks, Hold on a minute. I can beat.

These guys. Well, there's some fun fights out there for him, too. I don't know that he's going to make a title run, but I think there's a couple of fun, intriguing, exciting, competitive fights out there for him. There's a big old payday, too, waiting for Nate Diaz rematch. Yeah, there's that.

There's a Nate Diaz rematch. Listen, he did pretty well again. I mean, he lost... I'm thinking about Nate Diaz there. Maz Vidal. Yeah, who would I match him up with? Maybe a Steven Wonderboy, Thompson. That's a fight that's never happened.

No, it's a rematch.

Oh, yeah, they did. He beat him by decision, right?

Yeah, I think that's a rematch. Yeah, there's a couple of fun ones. There's a couple of fun ones.

And I think that the appetite from the crowd will be there. People like that.

People who love basketball. Yeah.

Usc would have no problem with it. So expect Masvidal on a card sometime soon.

I think it was in Salt Lake City. I never really spent a whole lot of time around Mass. But I've always had a lot of respect for him, just how we came up. And we ran into each other in Salt Lake City and I had a real long conversation with him. He's a really enjoyable person to be around. You see him pop up in these beefs, and he's got all this. He's real smooth when he's talking shit too, when he's beefing with somebody. He was really, really enjoyable to talk to. So I just find myself wanting good things to happen for that guy.

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And along with Chad mode, as always, check out the male vitality stack and the stack ultra along with the Chalk Daily. So give it a shot, you won't be disappointed. And by the way, we're going to give it 35 % off. Go to chalk. Com, C-H-O-Q. Com. And when you're there, use the code, bisping for a huge 35 % off your order. Chalk. Com, C-H-O-Q. Com. Use the code, bisping, 35 % off. I'm just sending out a tweet here, B-Y-M, because we've got to do this. We did it last year, and I forget who the winner was. I think it might have been Angu Tate. And we're throwing this down last minute with no planning. But who is the 2023 Dildo of the Year?

Oh, man. Man, who is the.

2023- I'm tweeting...

Dildo of the Year.

Right now, Dildo of the Year.

Well, I would argue that Kobe Cvington is probably up for nomination this year to even recency bias. And that was not a smooth move. It wasn't.

A smooth move. Remember, Dildo of the year? The criteria is just basically being annoying, being a dick, being fake, annoying everybody. Jane Paul is always in the running. But to be honest, he hasn't been as prevalent in our consciousness recently. Logan, Paul, KSI, all those people, but they're easy choices. That's easy-picking.

I was going to go to Dylan Danis, but he redeemed himself a little bit. I think even he looked like shit in his fight, but I think he hung tough and stayed in there and fought his ass off with what he had. So that redeemed him a little bit.

In my head. I mean, he's the namesake, though. Dylan the Dildo attacks, you know what I mean? That's where the awards came from, so we can't have him in there again. Who is the biggest Dildo this year? That's a tough question. I wish I had an answer. We should have thought about this beforehand.

How is he just- Oh, Harrington's God. Well, it's probably someone we've never heard of. Come on.

Who is it? All right, look, a guy who's teased us with fighting, selling us wolf tickets, a guy who bought a major social media platform whose value has gone down 70 %, a guy who's That was last year. It was the tail end of last year. He got charged this year. I'm going to say Elon Musk. It's a pretty rough year. 2023 was not his best. Elon Musk is the purveyor and the man defending free speech.

Right. I thought you were going to go Zuckerberg.

Yeah, I was going to tell you I was going to say Zuckerberg. But we were at studios doing an episode, so don't do that. I saw yesterday that Elon Musk's net worth apparently has gone down by 71 %.

Since then. Oh, man. He's still the second or third richest man on the planet. Percentages don't matter at that point.

Yeah, and he's just doing fine. Yeah, he's going to be okay. And with everywhere mandating electric cars, his sales are going to be just fine. Thank you very much. No, Elon Musk is not on my dildo of.

The year. He's not on mine either. I'm an Elon fan.

Yeah, I'm a big fan of Elon Musk. Listen, of course, he's going to talk about Martin Zuckerberg, and that was fun for a while while it lasted. Zuc's not on it either. I respect Zuckerberg for gettingin there and doing the mixed.

Martial arts. He's tearing ACLs and shit. Yeah, and now he's back on it. -he's getting hurt like the rest of us.

Yeah, he's just bloody training again already. Although I do think he is probably... He's AI. He's like the first Terminator, but he's just like a.

Nice person. I think he'll actually fight.

Have you seen Ex-Machina, that film? Yeah. He's like the male version of that woman, of whatever she's called. If you've seen the film, you know what I'm talking about. Let's see if we've got any answers on here.

That's what I'm going to look down to.

Hold on. The King, of course, Dylan Danis. Dylan Danis, Jake, Paul, Kolby. No, God, Kolby is the front runner so far.

Yeah, I think that would be a safe bet.

He definitely.

Pulled some fucking people's ass over here. Yeah, he made.

People angry. Joe Biden, people are saying.

I mean, that's an obvious one, but to be fair, it's really whoever's hand is up Joe Biden's ass because he's just a deceptive monkey.

Well, he's the puppet of the year then. Yeah.

The guy who pulled you to press all F-4.

That's a good one. Hey, Brian, what is going on with the border? I don't want to get into politics, but I know you're... Because I haven't seen... I know. For those people that don't know, there's like 5,000 migrants crossing the border every day. They're not getting searched. They don't need papers. They don't need documents. It's all mainly military-aged men. And they're not coming from Mexico by the looks of it.

No, they're people from all over the world.

Yeah, I got checked. I had to present my green card all the rest of it. I should have just went via Mexico. It's very easy these days. But what is the reasoning behind that? Why aren't more people talking about it? And now they just signed off. And by the way, I'm all for helping people. I really am helping the less fortunate. I'm all about it. But California just said they're going to give them all free health care. It's going to cost something like three billion dollars per year.

Where's California getting another three billion dollars from?

I spend three and a half thousand dollars a month for my health insurance for my family. That hurts me a little bit.

You're going to Texas or something, Mike. You've got to come to Nebraska, Mike. Yeah.

I've been looking. Yesterday, me and Rebecca, we spent so long researching places on the East Coast where we're going to move to.

Why the East Coast? North Carolina.

Oh, okay. North Carolina is where we're going more than life.

Charlotte is really nice. Doug, we would drive down all.

The time. Yeah.

That's what we were thinking. My manager lives in Charlotte and she's from Raleigh. You'll have to reach out to her to help you out.

Because I went to Greenville, South Carolina for a USC event once, and I just thought it was amazing.

I love Charlotte.

Because I love the countryside and the greenness and the rivers and the lakes and the mountains and also the zero taxes or the much lower taxes. And in North Carolina, the winters aren't too crazy. You still get a nice summer.

Yeah, but you get some season changes though. To be fair, coming from California, you could move to New York and the taxes would be better.

Yeah, no, I know.

Literally anywhere.

I haven't seen the tax bill this year, but I know it's sent. I know it's done. Normally, my accountant gives it to me on New Year's Eve. Last year I went to bed. I haven't seen it yet this year. That's why I'm still in a pretty good mood, but still the middle of the year. Last thoughts? Anyone are we going with Coby.

Coby then? If it makes you feel any better. It is Tuesday. I got my tax bill like two days ago, and I'm drinking it. I started drinking at noon on Tuesday. That tells you how good it went. Well- Picking up another fight in two weeks. I'm going to be fighting.

Yeah, I know that's right. I'm going to fight nine times this year.

Who are you taking on this time? My God. Everyone's saying, Colby, Carvington, Raul, Ross, is due... Oh, God, Iain Gary.

A.

Little bit Iain Gary. Iain Gary.

For taking his wife's ex-husband's last name before his. All of those things are wrong, but especially in that order. -argue. -i got to go, Colby. You talked about it being his past great-father.

Hold on. So there's a conspiracy theater going round right now. I like Ian. He said a few things in whatever recently, but whatever. Okay.

About you?

No, not about me. Just in general that people haven't vibed with. We don't need to go into it. But he posted those... There's a conspiracy theory going around that the pictures are fake of him being sick, right? A few YouTubers are commenting on this. Shellson has been commenting on it. And the case they put forth is that he shows four or five different pictures in various to add his sickness and his pneumonia and all the rest of it. And he's curled up in a bowl and he's looking sick and Malays and all the rest of it. But in every shot, he's got different clothes on, but he's got the same socks with Love Hearts on. So the theory is that he just meant... He's like, Who wears the same socks four days in a row?

Right. Nobody gets four pairs of socks that are exactly the same and wears them every day.

With love hearts on them? No. Ryan, bring up the pictures from me and Garry. I'm not trying to shit on.

Him further. I didn't see this.

This is what people are saying. Not me. And I'm asking I'm throwing it to the panel and seeing what you think.

Because- He's like, I'm not going to say it. I want to make you guys say it.

I just thought those are social media guys. That's always to get out of jail free card. So apparently people are saying, No, but that is what's going round at the minute. And yeah, okay, if he had have showed up to that press conference, there would have been a shitstorm. A lot of people would have talked shit. And he was there. It would have been easy pickings. But here we go. Yeah, people have been zooming in. Love Hearts.

Okay.

Loveheart socks. Loveheart socks.

I think that's the end of the pictures, but I get the point. And if not, you need to change your socks, you scurvy fuck.

Either he's hate pneumonia or he needs better foot hygiene. I guarantee he's got fungal nail infection. Oh, dear.

Well, to be fair, to be completely fair, it looks like he's wearing multiple pairs of socks in these pictures. So it could just.

Be -Which?

His outside layer is always heart socks for some reason.

Because he's got a big heart and he loves his wife. And to be fair, pneumonia, I've never had it, but I'm sure you feel cold when you lay her off.

There we go. Devil to the car. And maybe he just feels like shit and he hasn't showered in a couple of days and he's just changing and moving around.

I do that with pneumonia. Correct. There we go. Here's the other side. We're putting both cases forward. And yeah, to be fair, you don't feel like showering. I'm assuming if you've got pneumonia and the your hair is not on point.

Yeah, you're not trying to stand up for elongated periods of time.

Yeah. Who is he fighting now? Because his fight changed, right? Jeff Neel.

He's back to Jeff Neel. Remember when he... Because that fight never happened. When he posted, he wore the T-shirt with Jeff Neel's mugshot on it. And then I think Jeff Neel got hurt and had to pull out of the fight.

And that's why Neil Magney stepped in?

I believe that's why he ended up fighting Neil Magney.

Okay.

Oh, no, the Neil Magney thing, him shitting on my man, Neil might get you nominated for Dildo of the Year, though. Oh, man.

Well, he's.

Called me on...

I'm going to say he's called...

He messed with Neil's situation with the custody of his kids.

Is that true? Because I did hear that after all that talk, there was some talk about custody.

He's having some issues in court. It's a pretty big, Dildo move.

Oh, dear. Well, it's with sincere regret that I have to finally announce the 2023 Dildo of the year goes to Ian, the future. For sure, though.

Jari! Fireworks and explosions everywhere. We'll send him a trophy.

It'll be right there with the segue of the year trophy. All right, anything else we need to get to, Herringbone, before we go to a question or two? Because we've been gone for a little bit here. And I got to say, Antony, and for everyone listening, a lot of people have been saying, Where's the podcast? Where's the podcast? We're all human beings. We're all human beings. We've got to wind down. We've got to destress. We want to come back invigorated, give you a good show, which I think we've done. Antony needed a little bit of a long time, shall we say? But we're back with the bang and we appreciate all the support. Yeah, just checked. Nothing absolutely breaking. I will get back to you if.

Anything pops up. Perfect.

I love that.

That's that.

Okay, well, great show, guys.

I do feel invigorated too.

Yeah, good. I'm glad. That might be my next move. I might go into that. All right, if you have a question, please send it into bympod@gmail. Com. And with that said, Harrington is back. If you are listing on a Spotify or wherever you found podcasts, make sure you're subscribed. Leave us a five-star rating positive feel. It really helps out. You're watching on YouTube. Make sure that you're subscribed to the channel and you hit that notification bell to find out whenever a new episode drops. And if you want to catch over 500 episodes you can't find anywhere else completely ad-free and totally uncensor, head to gastigital. Com. Use the promo code BYM, get a seven-day free trial. Check out our 20 great shows on the network. Before Bryan jumps in, I did want to say this. I just saw in the headline there. You were talking about you went on a bit of a drinking binge, et cetera, et cetera, and you're not trying to bring the mood down. Al Jamey and Sterling says that it's been hard to get back into shape for Kelt Cater because two months after the Sean O'Maly fight, he was drinking and smoking a lot of marijuana, and now it's hard to get back in shape.

It's a natural process, brother.

Yeah, it is. It takes you a minute once you're... It takes you a second just to pull yourself out of your phone. Because I'm eating like shit, too. I'm eating every... I've been cooking my ass off. I'm cooking everything. I'm eating shit.

I've.

Been eating like shit, and I've loved every second of it, but it's going to be tough to pull myself back.

I got in really good shape again for Tears from the octagon just simply because of the stress, because it's not what I do, do you know what I mean? I took you 30 minutes stage by myself like I'm a stand-up comedian. I'm not a stand-up comedian, although it went pretty fucking good, if I'm honest. But the stress of that alone caused me to lose weight. Point of the story is it's all back. It's all back. Because I spent two weeks in England, it pissed it down with rain every single day. I lived off pies, meat pies, chicken and mushroom pies.

That's so good.

Bloody good. Sausage rolls, steak and chicken pudding, steak and ale pie, fish and chips, sticky toffee pudding.

Lots of beer.

Beer every day, vodkas at night.

Yes.

There we go. We have a glass of wine in bed whilst we watch the shitty shows on TV. So yeah, the diet's back with a bang, and I will be lecturing and telling you all that I don't drink. With that said, Brian, what is the first question, please?

All right, we got a question here from Alex. How's it going, B-Y-N family?

My.

Name is.

Alex.

From New Mexico. My question is going to be a little different.

It's not.

As.

Mma heavy. You guys haven't posted.

A podcast in a while, and I love the show. I'm the biggest fan.

First of all, I'm sorry.

Michael Bissby, I admire you. I respect you so much.

I don't miss the podcast. One of my favorite fighters ever in the world. I just one day.

Dreamed to just.

Have a beer with you and just.

Chillax and.

Then.

Vice versa. Same thing goes for Anthony Smith.

First U-of-C.

Pay-per-view event I ever went to live.

Was Anthony Smith versus.

John Jones.

I was the most scared I've ever been for John Jones ever, and I'm a huge of a May fan. I like.

To think I'm super knowledgeable.

I'm way.

Farther than a casual.

Up here.

But.

That's a conversation I'd like to have with you guys one day in person. That'd be cool. Now, my question is.

Within the podcast, did you ever think it.

Would affect.

Someone's life? You guys.

Not dropping the podcast the last month has affected me, man. Every Tuesday and Thursday, I.

Wait for you guys.

Did you guys ever think that'd be the case?

I want.

To hear.

Your thoughts.

Happy.

New Year's.

Love you guys. Be safe. Yeah, Harrington, go fuck yourself.

Just kidding. I love you.

First of all, Harrington gets a lot of abuse, but we all love him. I have to say that every time. Now, thank you for the question. We appreciate that. How did you feel having a little break, Antin? It's nice having a little... Honestly, I needed it.

Yeah, I needed it too, just with the two episodes a week, the radio show and then all the ESPN and commentating stuff that you have and the desk work that I have. It's just a lot. It's a lot of output. Your brain has to be turned on all the time. So it was nice to... Not that I... I missed talking with you guys, but it was nice to just not have anything expected of me for a couple of weeks and just chill out and just relax, really. Because you always have something you're looking forward to. Like, I got to do this at this time. I got to do this on this day at this time. I didn't really have that. So it was nice. And it was nice to... I'm sure that it gave the believers something to look forward to.

Well, Abysis makes the heart grow fonder. And you're absolutely right, because it wasn't just a podcast. My YouTube channel, I wasn't doing videos on there. I took all my stuff to England, as I said, but I was just like, Do you know what? I'm not doing it. I just need a break. I need to decompress. Everyone else gets a week off or whatever it is, and I'm still going to do this every day. So no, we didn't think that was never the plan, you know what I mean? But I love doing this. I enjoy our conversations. I'm glad that everyone else does. Again, going back to the start of the show, Anthony, I really respect your honesty, because I'm sure that's going to be the big takeaway from this show. You know what I mean? You've come out, you've brought the silence, if you will, for want of a better word, and it's a great way to do it and just get those thoughts off. I mean, does it feel better now that you've spoke about it a little bit?

Yeah, well, I'm glad I didn't do it right away because here's what happens. It's typically a fight. And then we got to show on Monday. And then sometimes I'll take the Monday off and I'm back on Thursday. And I haven't always completely processed it. So I haven't really figured out how I actually feel about it, whether it's a win or a loss. And so it was nice to just completely digest it, manage it, categorize where I'm at, and then just let it go. And my goal for the beginning of the year, we talked about resolutions, but my actual resolution was just to get back to regular life. My manager has called me twice since we've been on the show, and I haven't talked to them in weeks. So I got to get back to those phone calls. I got to get back on my shit. I got a lot of obligations as far as endorsements and sponsors, and I haven't done any of it. So I got to get back to regular life and get back to my responsibilities. So this was what I was waiting for, to be honest with you. After we do the show, I'll get back to regular life.

Yeah, and there it is. I look forward to it, Anthony, and we look forward to being back in the Oxcon. And ladies and gentlemen, thank you for watching the show. We do appreciate you very much. We're going to be back on Thursday. Anthony is not going to be on that one, though. But don't worry, we'll be back. We're going to be joined by a couple of great guests. Thanks for watching. Happy New Year, you sons of bitches. Take care.