You're listening to the Gas Digital Network.

Conceive, believe, achieve. Shut the f up.

You're listening to believe you me with Michael the Count Bisbing. You know my name yet. And Anthony Lionhardt-Smith.

Hold on. How's it doing, Anthony? You good, bro? Yeah. I bet you bloody well are. Ladies and gentlemen, we are back with the one, the Only the Believe You Me podcast with this this guy, the victorious Anthony Lion Hart Smith, fresh from Brazil. Big smile on his face. I'm excited for this episode. Anthony, good to have you back. Good to have you back in the Winners' circle. The floor is yours, brother, and I promise I'm not going to interrupt.

Honestly, Mike, I don't know if there's too much to say. I'm just really excited. It went well.

God damn, mine did.

I probably had the best fight week I've ever had. And I don't know why. It was different. It was different. I was just hyper-focused. I felt really good. And I think that just a full training camp. And I didn't leave any stones unturned. I worked my ass off. I did a bunch of extra traveling in between camp, during camp. But I took the extra steps to train. I trained my ass off all of UFC 300 week. I I went to that wedding in Arizona that I told you guys about. But even when I was there, I drove an hour while I was there to go train with Javier Torres and Waldo Costa-Cortez. I really busted my ass. I just did the extra little things and it paid off. I felt really good. It was a great week. My weight cut was easy. I had no problems. It was like three sits in the bath and I was on wait. I was on wait by seven o'clock Thursday night, and I just had to sit and chill, which sucked. I did it a little bit early. No, it does. But there was no stress. I was on and I was ready to go.

Yeah, it just felt good. I felt good. It all went well.

Yeah, and you look good. You said it perfectly. You said leading into this, there's levels to this game, right? Yeah. There he is. Now we got light on you as well.

What more?

You're taking the piss now, Anthony. He's winning vice, he's not taking shots. You're having the best weight cuts.

He's drinking beer at noon.

Oh, my God. He's drinking bloody beer at noon. Jeez, Louise, slow down. No straw, though.

No. No. No, I'm being a man.

Listen, listen. Congrats. We're going to talk about the fight. If I ever saw you drink a beer with a straw, that'd be over. That'd be it. I mean, a Moscow Mule is one thing, but a beer with a straw, that just can't be allowed. No, you said there's levels to this, and you're absolutely right. Vito Petrino, dangerous guy. Only 11 fights, though. I was thinking about this. I was just working out before, and I was thinking about this. I was just working out, though, and I was thinking about this. I was just working out, though, show, and I was thinking about what I was going to talk about with you and how to approach it. And you're absolutely right, because I was like, I was worried for you in the fight. Of course I was. I'm your friend. I care for you, of course. And you needed the win. Let's just be frank. And then in hindsight now, of course, not taken away from the victory, 11 fights. I remember when I had 11 fights, you're still very much a baby in this sport because he came out guns blazing, not really showing you any respect, and you were just calm and chill and just waiting for the right opportunity.

Then it gives you the neck. You know what I mean? And then that was it. It was all game over. How many fights have you had now? Fifty- Seven. Fifty-six. Fifty-seven. Yeah. So no, I I thought what you said on the microphone was perfect.

I even think that even with me saying, well, there's levels to this, and I've been doing this a long time, and the experience thing matters. I think I even gave... And this is going to come him off like I'm being an asshole, but I'm really not. I even gave him more credit or more respect than I should have. You watch the tape and he's got a really fast, powerful lead hand. And so then we worked really hard on that. And then it was His right-hand at times can be sneaky. I'm like, All right, we got to make sure we pay attention to that. And then we get in there and I just seen everything. Maybe that's because I was so focused on it in training camp, but he threw the first job. I'm like, Oh, wow, that's normal speed. Okay, I I can handle that. Threw the hook and then the right-hand had a big tell to it. So it was like, just stay out of range, stay out of trouble, especially being in Brazil. Those guys are so juiced up. If you go and look at the first round of all the Brazilian fighters, they're so amped in that first two minutes.

They just can't control themselves. So just pick at the leg a little bit and just be safe. And then as I started to loosen up a little bit, then that's when the neck thing happened. But I was a little bit stiff at the beginning. The timing was off on the pay-per-view a little And you know how that goes being on the broadcasting side. I expected to have a little bit more... I thought we were going to go right away. As soon as that last fight ended, I thought we'd walk because that's how they were doing it. And then we had about seven or eight minutes of just hanging out in the back. So I cooled down a little bit, and then we walked. So I was a little bit stiff and cool when the fight started. But as we got moving, I don't know, I was seeing everything. I felt good. His speed wasn't a problem. And the late kicks paid off early for sure.

Yeah, I was just looking. So it was Michelle Pajara versus Iho Pateria. They got to fill time to a certain degree. They just want to smash right into it. You just said something there that might get picked up by the media, as you know, everything you say, you are a clickbait machine, Anthony. Every time. All the Braziliens are juiced up in the first round. Jeez, Louise. This is what it is. I did fight in Brazil. His name was Veto Belfour, and he was certainly on all the secret juice.

He was juiced up through all those rounds.

What was it? I always said that Veto Belfour was... What was it? It was like... Whatever. I had a good funny analogy in my book back in the day. It was like the Incredible Hulk. What was it? Who cares? I can't remember what it was. I haven't read the book for a while. Quittors never win. So talk to me about the pressure going in, Anthony. As you know, it hasn't gone your way lately. Yes, in hindsight, I'm sure you maybe shouldn't have taken the Khalil Raujoui fight, but even still, regardless of the situation, going into that fight in Brazil-It's been up and down a little bit. With him standing there and grinning and smiling as if you were no threat whatsoever, did you just want to get your first two hands on him and rip his head off?

No, the opposite. I felt bad for him. I felt bad for him because the smiling and the grinning and the uncomfortable body link... Listen, we're at weigh-ins, right? And I just weighed in, and he was already in the little area where we all sit after you weigh in. And I go back and I'm drinking my water, and I can see him in my peripheral vision a little bit ahead of me. And he's doing something like this. And in my head, I was like, Is this guy staring me down at weigh-ins? After I'm all like, sucked up and dehydrated, started to get a little bit irritated. So finally, I take a drink and I look up at him and he goes...

I was like, You're a fan.

So then I realized he's a nice guy. He's a decent guy. We shook hands, no big deal. But then in the octagon, when he was smiling, I felt bad for him because that's his response to being very nervous. It's a big moment. Like, Tyson Pedro to me, and I'm not tooting my own horn here, but Tyson Pedro to me is a big jump in competition. It's an opportunity to get yourself into the top 10. It's your first main card fight on a paper interview. It's your first big highlight in your home country with all your friends. You've seen him waving at his family and stuff. If you're waving at your friends and family in the crowd while I'm standing across from you, you're either, one, really nervous, or two, don't give a shit about me. Both places are bad places to be. So I just took it as he was a little bit nervous and had some nervous energy and didn't really know how to react to it. So it felt bad for him because I was like, I've been there.

Yeah. The only time I did that where I was that aloof, if you will, or dismissive of the threat, it was when I fought Matt Hamill, UFC 75, and I was giving a thumbs up to Dana and I was waving. I see my buddies in the audience because I honestly thought I was just going to go right through him. And when they said fight, I've said this many times, two minutes into the fight, you're being there like a headlock, like you'd have your little brother smacking me in the face, bloods pouring out of my nose, and I'm like, Shit, this isn't going to plan. Harrington, Brian, come on. We got to get on here and give Anthony the respect. I hear you. Come on, down the floor for Anthony Lina Smith, everybody. Brian, you're not clapping.

Yeah, God's doing. He's just burbling. And I'm in my new house. There's no bits and bobs. I'm just hanging out because my office isn't done yet, but I'm in my He's got a new house hanging out.

Jesus Christ. He's flying down to Brazil. He's getting back in the winners column. He's getting paid handsomely. He's got new houses. Jesus Christ, Anthony.

My poor wife, we moved in here Monday, and then I left Tuesday for Brazil. So essentially everything that she's had done so far, she's unpacked most of this house by herself.

So she did all the hard work. Perfect timing.

I did the hard work.

No, no, no, no. But you timed that perfectly. That's the real reason I took that fight. You know what I'm saying? Moving house is the name of boys. Harrington, the floor is yours. Talk to your friend.

I did actually. I told my friends that who I was watching the fights with on Saturday. I was like, Guys, don't worry. Anthony Smith moved on Monday. He's not worried about this.

I did move. We also got a pile of emails of just people showing their betting slips. I bet a lot of people made some money. I got a 4-1 underdog. How's that even happened? You made a lot of people a lot of money. Yeah, or lost a lot of people a lot of money. I guess that's the one way to look at it.

I'll be honest, Anthony. I'll be honest. If I'd have known you were moving house, my anxiety would have gone to a whole new levels because I was like, He's a UFC 300. He's doing this, he's doing that. He's moving to my house. He's fighting an undefeated Brazilian. Can you just focus on the task at hand for the love of God?

I was focused. How about that? So two weeks ago, Well, the Poirier thing happened where Poirier was talking about he hadn't had any guillotine finishes at UFC 299. Right then I realized, out of all the fights I had, I had zero guillotine finishes. I never even jumped one in a fight. I hit it all the time in the gym, but I've never tried one in a fight. And then for the last couple of weeks, I don't know why, I just kept finding them in practice, and I just kept cracking jokes. What if I guillotine this guy? Obviously, with Cody Brundage, it's a big joke in the gym that every time he fights, he's in the middle, he's getting ready to win, and then jumps a guillotine, doesn't get it, and then loses. That's the ongoing joke. It's a funny up joke, to be honest, now that I think about it. But I never attempted one, and then His head was there. I'm like, well, now is as good a time as any, I suppose.

Talk to me about, and don't take this the wrong way, is there a sense of relief, Anthony? Because when we step in there and every time we lose a fight, it's bad for our careers. You know what I'm saying? Especially when you're still fighting towards gold. You know what I'm saying? So you get out there, not only show the UFC, show the world, show the fans, but to yourself. You know what I'm saying? Was there a sense of that?

Yeah, it was a big sense of relief because the questions do come in where, some of it's my decision making and some of it's just Some of it is just circumstance. I just kept telling myself, You're fine. You're okay. Just the way that my career, my life has gone is just sometimes there's up and downs, and you get into a little bit of a rut, and you struggle to get out of it. But then you can only listen to people say it so much before you start saying, Well, fuck me. Maybe they're seeing something that I'm not seeing. And maybe I'm a I get distracted at times. I don't know, maybe I've lost it, but I don't feel it in the gym. But it was like, I don't know. I just had to fully commit myself in this training camp, and it wasn't... I already got of the fight offer. And I just like, I can't. It's too quick of a turnaround because I figured out that it's nothing physical. It's here. I have to be 100 % committed, 100 % focused and dialed in on only that. And I figured out that I can only do that for so long.

I'm not in my early 20s anymore, where I can just keep going back to back. I would have to go back to training camp next week. The thought of that makes me want to slam my head in a corridor. I'm going to obviously get back to training. That's another goal that I'm... Thursday, I'm going back to practice because I can't allow myself to get back out of shape because it's too hard to get back in shape as you get a little bit older. So I don't want to do that again. So I just want to keep this really good shape right now. So I want to just keep it rolling and just maintain it. So I need to make sure that I'm making good decisions. So I can't take that next fight. I can't go back to back like that, not because I couldn't physically do it. Of course, I could jump in my car, pack my shit, drive to Denver, fly back and forth on the weekends. It'd be fine. Of course, I could do that physically. But can I do it and be ultimately focused in the gym and excited to be there.

And I can't. I can't. I need to take a step back, reevaluate, chill my brain out, manage everything that's going on, hang out. And then when I'm feeling like, okay, I'm ready to do it again, then I got to go again. But I just have to make better decisions. But I guess long story long, I was really relieved because everything that I thought in my head was right. And my My eyes didn't deceive me because sometimes you start to wonder, Am I just not seeing the same shit that other people are seeing? Because I'm too biased towards myself to see a danger. And then I got in there. That was the first thing I thought when he threw the jab because watching the film, I think that's okay. I think I'm all right with that. And then he threw it. I'm like, Okay, I'm not feeling crazy. It's manageable, right? And then just as the fight went on, I thought he would make bad decisions. And as long As long as I forced him to make decisions, I thought they would be the wrong ones. And then as it happened, he gets a little bit frantic, his legs all fucked up, and then he shoots.

And in my head, I was like, I knew he was going to shoot. He has to. I thought he would make that decision. And so a lot of just proving myself right as the fight went on. That was a long, rambling answer.

No, not at all, not at all, mate. Very interesting stuff what you said. You said, and And it's always the way. You're like, does everyone else see it? And I don't. Because the reality is in the fight game, the fighter themselves in question, they're always the last one to see it. It's always the peripheral. First of all, it's the fans and the coaches and the people around is like, Shit, he's not getting it. And then even the fighter themselves in the gym, they feel fantastic. But when they can't get it done on fight night, but then there's still... How do you help me if I can get your words out? Oblivious, do it. And it is, as you mentioned, that it's about making the right decisions. Because I was going to ask you, I was going to say, Dude, you took no damage. You got the job done in two minutes. You could parlay that straight into another fight, which, of course, they have done. But you're right. At 36, 36, Anthony?

Almost 36. A couple of months.

Right, right. 35, 36. You don't want to misjudge things now. You don't want to make any mistakes. You could take that fight, and you Very, very well could go and win. And two quick wins, two pay days, that's really fucking attractive. You know what I'm saying? But you got to be professional. I don't expect to divulge too much information, but who was the opponent? When was the offer? And exactly how much were they going to offer you to fight?

Well, I can't give you any of that. But of course, behind the scenes, I will.

Relatively quick?

Pretty quick, yeah.

Pretty quick. You have a UFC 302 going down in Newark, New Jersey?

No, it wasn't that.

Quicker or longer than that?

What's the date on that one?

June second off the top of my head.

Longer.

So So-UFC 303?

No, it's not UFC 303. But as soon as they offered it to me, my first initial thought was the same thing you thought. No injuries, not banged up, another paycheck, quick turn, two in a a row. But then what does that get me back into? Because I didn't think about the money right away. It was like, damn, two in a row, pretty quick, puts me in a pretty good spot. We start talking about title talk, and then immediately I got to back it up and said, no, we're not worried about the title. I'm not chasing the title right now. If I find myself there, great. That's the plan. Of course, initially. In goal, that's the plan. But I can't let that guide my decision making. I know me. I can physically be there and ready to fight. Like in in shape. But mentally, I couldn't do another back to back training camp like that and not fall apart mentally because I wouldn't want to be there. I'd be a little ways a couple of weeks into it, I'd already be pissed off, and I wouldn't want to be away from my family, and my kids will be out of school, and they'll be having fun all summer, and I'll be missing out on all that shit, and I'll be mad about it, and then I'll be a pissy, and I'll treat everyone like shit, and then I'll be a bad training partner, and then I'll be an asshole to my wife when she calls because I'll really just be jealous, and I'm missing out whatever they're doing.

It would be all bad. It would be all bad. I just got to check your ego. No one too much is too much. Sit back, hang out for the summer with your kids, do Hang out, work the pay-per-views, do a couple of fight nights, and just work on getting better.

And to be honest, doing that, that behavior is when you've given up on the title hunt. You're just trying to cash in, or maybe retirement is looming. When I did that quick turnaround after GSP, I knew I was retired. I was like, Why wouldn't I take this? I don't really give a fuck if I win or lose. I'm going and go and try and win, but who cares? Because it's not going to impact my career because my career is over. It's done. Do you know what I mean? The only other time I did that, what was it? Ufc 85, as I was walking onto the scale to weigh in, they asked me if I would fight on the next card in London in, which was two paper views away. So I agreed right then and there, but that's because I was 26 years old and done as fuck. So I already have my next fight lined up. So congrats again, Anthony. Congratulations. Today's episode is brought to you by 8 Sleep, which is the solution to all of your sleeping issues. 8 Sleeps pod cover slips right over the mattress, bringing heating and cooling technology that will keep you comfortable and go into a deeper sleep.

You're going to wake up feeling as fresh as a daisy. The 8 Sleep pod, it just goes on like a mattress cover, as I said, and then you can adjust your bed to be the perfect temperature at night. So no more arguing with the misses. No more waking up in the middle of the night, freezing cold or sweating like crazy. You're going to drift off to sleep perfectly because you can automatically adjust your bed's temperature. You can go as low as 55 degrees, and you can go as hot as 110 degrees. And by the way, you can split the temperature. Your wife can have it hot, you can have it cool because you are not fool. Nobody wants to have a bed 110 degrees, but my wife would. And if you are a psycho, you can also do that. Sleep science has shown that in order to sleep your best, the body temperature needs to drop in the early and the middle part of sleep and then rise in the morning. Of course, it can be programmed to do all of those things. It keeps you at the perfect temperature all night. It also attracts your sleep and your health metrics.

They have seen that on average, sleep quality improves by 32% with just a month using the pod. So there's no better way to start your day than a good night's sleep. And that is being offered right now with the 8 Sleeps pod 3 Start the new year right and invest in the rest that you deserve with the 8 Sleep pod cover. Go to 8sleep. Com/bisping to get $200 off and free shipping. 8sleep. Com/bisping. Bisping, $200 off. This remarkable piece of technology that will revolutionize the way you sleep and the way you feel going forward. 8sleep. Com/bisping for $200 off and free shipping. Now, another good reason why you don't want to be taking these fights real quick is because the little beef between you and Alex Pereira, it's really starting to heat up.

That got weird, huh?

I don't know if you saw him.

You put him to sleep. Yeah. What the fuck was he wearing?

I didn't see what he was wearing. Did we have any? How many to him, right? Can I find that video? What was he wearing? Where they're introducing him and he falls asleep. Was it like a leather waistcoat?

It was like a vest with no shirt underneath of it. I was like, All right.

Shit. So what are you saying? Alex Pereira on top of having no jiu-jitsu has no fashion sense.

Right. Apparently.

Your words, no mine.

Yeah, he was falling asleep while I was being introduced by Buffer. And then do you see, he did the... I'm not 100% true. This is real, but- The 50,000? He offered $50,000. I started on his back, both hooks in, seat belt, grip, and I got five minutes to finish him. If I do, he gives me 50 grand. We put up 50K.

I saw that. I saw you say that you choked the shit out of him. Can you just say those words? I would choke the shit out of him?

It's not even just him.

Can you say those words? Because that's going to be the title of the episode.

I would choke the shit out of him.

Out of Alex Pereira.

I would choke the shit out of Alex Pereira.

And I would make it look easy.

I don't know if I make it look easy. He probably It was a pretty good fight.

Yeah, I'll keep pushing. I saw the video and I also thought, was that like an AI thing?

I think it was an AI thing because I've seen it before and thought it was just fake bullshit. And then they keep bringing it up. And I think someone made it into made the AI video. And then I think he just ran with it because it was picking up in the media. And he's a media darling. He's not stupid when it comes to social media and headlines and stuff like that. I think he's just running with it.

No, he's actually very smart. He's a man of few words, but when he does talk, you can see that he's definitely a good thinker because I think leading up to Fireweek, he was there, he was signing the posters. He did a little troll job. I don't know if you saw that you were probably busy getting ready for your own final. So he did a fake thing, signing pictures, trying on gloves, and doing the... When you do the photo shoot and take to your left a little bit, he was doing that, but he was going the wrong way. He was doing it on purpose. It was actually really funny. So he knows what he's doing. He knows what he's doing. If you were to do that, Anthony, though, and you did choke him out, not only would you gain $50,000, which is always nice.

And I would I would buy the most ridiculous thing with that. I would spend every penny on the most ridiculous thing. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know.

Like a- A leather waistcoat?

No, like an 18-foot-tall dildo I'd put in my backyard with his name on it.

You're getting Harrington very excited.

Just something ridiculous. Something absolutely ridiculous.

An 18-foot dildo?

Yeah.

Sounds like a gigantic, Brazilian Tomahawk. No, but not only an effigy of Alex Pereira, you're being disrespectful to the-I'm not being disrespectful. That's what you're saying. You're being so disrespectful right now, Anthony. Get a hold of yourself. Ease off the Madele.

Okay, I would definitely... Maybe not an 18-foot-tall dildo, but I would buy something real ridiculous.

Yeah. Harrington and Brian, if you had 50 $50,000 to waste right now, if someone had a gun to your head and you had to waste it, what would you waste $50,000 on? Waste. That's the key word.

You got to blow it. I buy a Hellcat. That's not a waste. That's useful. Something ridiculous.

Oscar Meyer Wienermobile. There we go. That would look ridiculous in your driveway.

What is that?

A Wienermobile? Do you know Oscar Meyer Wienermobiles? Like the hot dogs, like the hot dog company?

Oh, right. Okay.

Can you imagine dropping your kids off to school in that?

Yeah, I would-I'd just get the boys together, and we just go blow it on a crazy weekend. In the Oscar Meyer Wienermobile.

I would I'm not going to have to cruise around Vegas in that thing. That would not be my choice. I would get all the boys together, and we're going to go old school. That doesn't seem like a waste.

That doesn't seem like a waste. Just nose beers and Ladies of the Night out in Vegas.

Whatever floats you both. So I was going to say, Anthony, but not only would you gain $50,000, you also then have a submission over the champ, which therefore, not only do you have beef, not only do you have some rivalry, but you also have a legitimate submission. It's not a case for a title shop.

That's not a terrible spot to be in, too. I just don't know that he would actually stand by I thought that. Even just a regular grappling match, I just don't think he would. And I've never been... The craziest thing is, he's the one who brings it up all the time. I've never once... If you guys are going to, all you media people, you're going to write something, write this. I've never once challenged Alex Pereira to a grappling match. Not one time. Never. I've only ever accepted his offers. He wanted to do a grappling match. Then he wanted to do one in the gui. Now he wants me to take and wants to bet 50 grand that I can't finish him in five minutes. Those are all from him. So I see these people are always like, well, of course he wants to do a grappling match. That's the only thing you can beat him. I'm not the one bringing it up. I just agree to it. I would agree to do anything Alex Pereira wants to do. It wouldn't pick and choose any martial art you want. The answer is yes. It doesn't matter. I would absolutely do any of them.

In the chat, the video is 100% real, so the challenge is out there. Now, I'm going to say this.

I said it's AI. What is? But he's definitely running with it. Oh, yeah, the video is ridiculous.

Play it, but it might just be AI doing the voiceover and the translation, because I want Alex Pereira to learn English and sound like this. Roll the tape.

I make a bet with Anthony Smith. I let him take my back, put the hooks in, and give him five minutes to finish me.

We can bet.

Like he said, I'd win a 50K bonus. He said it was a sure thing. So if he sees me saying this here, I want him to accept. He takes my back, sees that my arm was trapped. No, he has to finish. Incomplete, your 50K penalty. He pays the 50 bills. When I allow him to take my back, put the hooks, right?

Both of us sitting there, right?

Game on. So here we go. All right. I'll have five minutes to get up and stand.

If I get up in one minute or four minutes, no matter. I stood up, he lost, he pays 50K.

Got it? If he finishes me, okay?

The fight is confirmed, he is going to reach the destination. Anthony Smith, you and Alex Potin at the Performance Institute, valued at $50,000. Just need to finish with the locked position. Nothing more. It's on, Alex. Anthony?

I'm in.

You accept the challenge?

I've accepted it like nine times. I'm in.

Now, listen. I'm in. Listen. Listen, whilst on, if you are successful, you're getting $50,000, and it makes a case for you fighting for the belt. If you were to lose because there's a give and the take, there's a yin and the yang, not only would you have to I'm paying him $50,000, but then the case, would that be embarrassing? You know what I mean? I gave you the best position, and you couldn't do it because you know and I know, mixed martial artists, I reckon I'd have a good chance of defending you for five minutes. Do you know what I mean? Because we become masters at fighting the fight in your hands and getting the shit and get out of there and clear the hook. Do you know what I mean? We'll do it for a laugh. No $50,000 when we get together. We'll film that. I I'm not doing it for 50K, but I'll take that Pepsi challenge, brother. You ain't getting shit on me.

I don't think... Is there a chance he gets away? Maybe. He's pretty explosive. If the referee blows the whistle and he explodes, maybe I don't have quite enough time to really set the hooks tight and get to it. But I think that's unlikely. But I'm willing to bet on myself for sure. I bet on myself every single time. I didn't get to where I am today not taking challenges like that or betting on myself in opportunities like this. But I'm willing to bet anybody, almost anybody. I can think of a handful of people in the world where 100 % I probably couldn't joke them in five minutes. That's less than I can count on one hand, where I'm 100 % like, no, probably not. But everybody else in the world, if you give me a dominant position like that, that's my favorite in the world, I'm probably going to... In five minutes, five minutes is a lifetime with someone on your back.

But it is. You're absolutely right. Mixed martial arts for sure, because the punches change everything. When there's no punches involved, it does become a little bit harder. Granted, if you're dealing with one of the top jiu-jitsu competitors on the planet, that's a different cattle of fish. I would use the punches, and then you make mistakes, and the chin comes up, and all of a sudden you're going home, you're laughing to the bank, and you're buying 17-foot dildos. You're All right. Your wife's eyes are lighting up. What is that, Anthony? Jesus Christ. I know we just got a new house, but I don't think that bastard is going to fit in.

Jesus Christ. Yeah, but with a guy like Nicki Rod or Gordon Ryan or Craig Jones or those level of competitors, they're probably going to have a tough time because they've trained from their whole lives. But I just think I finish there.

I I've got a bad neck. I'm going to go see the doctor right after this, but I want to do this challenge with you.

Let's do it.

Let's do it just for fun. Just for fun, yeah. Just for shits and digs.

Go for dinner.

Staying 100 %. Yeah, there you go. There you go. The loser pays for dinner. Staying on Alex Pereira. And of course, there's lots of other UFC 301 stuff to talk about, but it just seems segues. Pereira is being called out by Jon Jones, another man that you know very well. Tom Aspenal, of course, the interim champion, he's coming out and he thinks that Jones is playing games. He thinks that he's just... And I agree. I think he's just messing around. He's playing games. I think he's I'm going to wind up Tom Aspenal because I, for one second, can't believe that Jon Jones would have... It would be so embarrassing for him to realistically be calling out the champion from the weight class below if he wants to beat Steve here. And we know that's an if, that's not a given. But to then be talking about not retiring, but taking on a different challenger, he's got to be with everybody.

Well, like John Jones has ever been concerned with being embarrassed of anything. He's really good at it. If he's smart, that's exactly what he's doing. If he wants the for sure fight or he wants the better matchup, he would avoid Tom Aspenal like the plague. So if he beats Steepay, I would say that Alex Pereira is probably a bigger money fight right now.

So I looked at the responses on X. I believe that's the first time I've ever said that, and it didn't feel right. On Twitter, I looked at the responses, And I thought, overwhelmingly, it would be people saying, Tom, come on, man, cut the shit, you're out of your mind. But it was actually the opposite. I think Tom Aspenal posted a meme or an image of John Jones looking like that or whatever, and it tagged John's tweet below it. And everyone was like, Look, listen, obviously, Tom, you're the next logical fight. But in terms of legacy fights, in terms of money-making fights, Alex Pereira is one of the biggest stars in the the world of mixed martial arts right now. And I was blown away. Everybody knows that I'm very good friends with Tom, and I thought I was going to go to the comment section and see something very, very different. But it seemed, and I'm not saying everybody, but there was a real healthy percentage of people saying, actually, Pereira makes sense over Tom. And I was like, the pets heads are definitely falling off.

Well, in terms of divisional relevance and the natural progression of the situation we found ourselves in the heavyweight, Tom Aspenal makes all the sense in the world. But if you're John Jones, if you're his coaches, or you're his accountant, or you're his manager, Steep in Meotchitz, Alex Pereira, That's much lower risk, a whole lot more reward, and probably more money right now. I think in time, two or three fights, I think Tom Aspenal is one of the biggest superstars in the entire UFC, in the whole company. Unfortunately, he's been stuck in this weird spot where he hasn't had the opportunity. But you and I both know that to give Tom the opportunity, the fights, the platform, the spotlight, and the promotional push, that he's going to get when he fights, there's no way he's not a superstar.

No, no. And that goes with that question.

And he's crazy popular already. It's just Alex Pereira is already a two-way world champion. He's already got this boogie man thing going on. And people like... It's recency bias. It's what they've recently seen. And I think people in their minds can imagine Pereira laying in one of those nasty left hooks, and they envision in their head, John going down. Can John take it? Can he not take it? I think There's a lot of those games being played in people's heads.

Yeah. I think in terms of as fighters, we want to be a part of the biggest fights possible. All right, cool. Right now, Pereira would be a bigger fight. To your point, a moment ago, Tom's got a real personality, and he's got his own YouTube channel. If people haven't checked that out, do so, because he has some really good videos and content on there doing all kinds of different stuff, and he will be there. And I think when he gets his hands on Tom, I just don't really see it being a fight. Sorry, that's insulting to John. I just strongly believe that Tom would win that fight, and that's not being disrespectful to John Jones.

Look at the size, though.

I saw the size of him. In the way he moves. All the best to him.

We've talked about a thousand times.

I don't need to sit here and jerk off Tom Aspinal, okay? That'd be like working a 17-foot dildo, okay? In the old days of this podcast, that would be the title of this episode, but it's not going to be. You know what I mean? Jesus Christ. There's an image I'm trying to get out of my mind.

Tom is 17-foot.

Oh, my God. What was I saying? What was I saying? I don't know. No, I saw a picture of John Jones just recently. And again, I don't know if this was AI, but he looks rough. He looks like really, really out of shape. And I know in between... I mean, dude, I used to get in terrible shape. Honestly, I used to look really bad and heavy and unathletic, and then come fight time, you get it back. But did you see that picture?

Do you know what I'm talking about? No, I didn't see the picture.

Yeah, it didn't look athletic at all. It could have been bullshit. You never know these days.

These days, it's hard to tell what's real and what's not.

Yeah. All right. Anyway, enough about that. So just real quick, we'll go through these files because we got a lot of other stuff to talk about. Sadly, Paul Krieg didn't get the job done Saturday night. Kyle Bahaya looked really good, to be honest. I mean, he was telegraphing the shots a little bit, but yeah.

What do we do with Paul Krieg?

What do we do with Paul?

Yeah, what do we do with him?

I don't know, man. I don't know. Listen, he's a warrior. He'll step in there, he'll fight. He's got very fearsome jiu-jitsu.

We got to get the striking going.

I know. And that is the issue, of course. I don't want to say you can't teach old dog new tricks.

You think you might be too far along?

I'm not just saying he's not too far gone. You can definitely refine and clean things up and all the rest of it. I think he just needs to work on his offensive wrestling, maybe. You know what I mean?

I'd like to get him out to Denver. I'd like to get him out to Denver and just give him a different look. Not that he doesn't have good coaches because I know he does, but just get a different look, maybe a different... Like a new set of eyes Well, that's actually a really good point because I'm sure he has some very good training partners, but the center of the universe, when it comes down to it, essentially, for mixed martial arts is the United States of America.

It is. It's a US-driven sport. There's more gyms, there's more training partners, there's more facilities and resources. Yes, of course, you don't have to be in America to do well, and that's clearly proven. We've got champions from all over the world. But in terms of just getting maybe just everyday attention, the minutiae of techniques and things like that, get out and mix things up, go with a different camp for a little while. But that's hard. But you don't have to be disloyal. You don't have to say to everyone, listen, I'm leaving you. I'm going to go spend some time in the States or to Daghistan or to Russia or wherever the hell it is.

It's a few weeks just to get a different look and see. Just have someone else take a look at you and just see if they see something different. Your coaches see you every single day, day in, day out. That's why I like to bounce around and just train with different people. When I'm in Vegas, I'll grab a coach. Hey, coach, you got an hour? I'll go see nick sick, and he's got a bunch of coaches is in there. Hey, you got 45 minutes just to walk through me with some stuff, just for someone new to take a look at you.

Some of my most useful techniques, and when I say useful, the nothing flash or whatever when I was fighting came from little chance meetings with a coach in a training room I just happened to be in, and they would show one little thing, and it was one little thing, and it was super basic, but I've never seen it before. And I went on to use that throughout all my career. And it happened all the time because every time When you go to a different gym, you get a different look, a different feel, a different speciality from that coach. So that's not a bad idea. But Paul, you're a warrior. Kyle Bore-Hayon, the man's fantastic. We got to give him his due. Well done to Kyle. Michelle Pereira, did you see when you're backstage, you're warming up, you're getting ready to go out, the adrenaline is starting to flow, the anxiety is creeping in a little bit, you're like, I'm doing this right. Are you keeping one eye on the screen? Are you watching Michelle Pereira backflip on top of his opponent and potentially knee him in the face.

I did. I did see that. I watched it. I didn't see the replay because I know they replayed it a couple of times. I don't know if the knee hit or not. That's Michelle Pereira, though. I mean, that guy is just a freak in nature. And he is so big.

So big.

I can't believe that guy used to make welterweight not that long ago. Well, try. I guess.

He's now on an eight-fight win streak, and he's a monster man. 31 and 11. I didn't realize he had that many fights. Me neither. Only 11 knockouts, but it's the excitement that he brings. Do you know what I mean? And we've spoke about this many times, just the willingness to do that, right? To fight at that level on pay-per-view. There's a lot of pressure. The world's watching, and you find someone else that's trained just as much as you. They come from very similar circumstances. And in the middle of the UFC's octagon, you're going to choose at that point there to do a jumping backflip onto your opponent. I mean, that's some pride FC legendary shit.

That might have been a knee.

On the slow-mo, not on Brian's very fast replay, it showed the shin touching the chest, if I do believe. Oh, okay. Granted, I'd been to an Indian wedding on Saturday night. Yeah. Have you ever been to an Indian wedding?

No.

Quite the lavish affairs. It was at the British Natural History Museum, which is- That sounds fancy as shit. An unbelievable venue. When you walk in, it used to have a big bloody skeleton of a Tivanasaurus rex. It's an unbelievable place. Brian, just bring up the Natural History Museum. It's just a most unbelievable thing. And they had big skeletons of mammoths and crazy- At the wedding? At the wedding, because I thought the wedding would be in like, Yeah, okay, it's at the Natural History Museum, but it will be at in my little conference hall connected to it. Oh, no. I walked in, I'm like, Shit, it's the main hall. You know what I mean? That's crazy. And they were having an amazing time, and it was a beautiful, beautiful wedding. And thank you to the people. I'll keep it private. Yeah, there we did. That's like a... It's an unreal place, and that there is just... The wedding, it just blew my mind. It just absolutely blew my mind. Anyway, there you go. That's insane. Yeah, that's where they had the wedding. That's where we're all sitting there having our food, the Indian food, which was bloody lovely.

Point where I'm going with this.Was there drinks there?Oh, yeah, there was drinks, of course. Indians love a good drink.

Do they?

Okay. Oh, God, yeah. Are you serious?

I don't know anything Indian. I love their food.

I love Indian food. I have Indian food Friday night. I got a shout out at a restaurant I went to, Jim Kana. Thank you. Saturday night, we went to an Indian wedding. The flight back on the Sunday. Indian food. Might have went to the toilet once or twice on the flight. Anyway, so I stayed at the wedding till about midnight. I rushed back to my hotel. I'm watching the fight, and I am falling asleep because in the UK, it's on to five o'clock in the morning. And today, I was very tired on that flight, and I hold you solely responsible. I don't know why I brought this up.

I don't know either, but thank you for staying awake. And you text me right before I was walking out.

And you never responded. Thanks.

No, I It's the only text I read. I was turning my phone off because they said my name. They're like, Anthony, let's go. And so I was turning my phone off, was playing music, and went to hand it to my best friend and looked and it said, Michael Bisley. I'm like, Well, I'm going to have to read that real quick. And I read, I'm like, Let's go.

And by the way, I didn't expect a response. It's like you got something to do there right now. So Michelle Pereira, well done to him. All right, this episode is sponsored by Betterhelp, and now is the time for you to take the bull by the horns and give therapy a try. I talk about this all the time. Usually, we're all going through something, okay? We know there's a big spotlight on mental health, but sadly, there's still a stigma attached to it, and it doesn't need to be mental health. It can be an anger issue. It can be depression. It can be alcohol abuse, substance abuse, relationship advice, whatever the case may be. Talking to somebody about your problems will help. And certainly, when it's one of the professionals that better help offer, and of course, with better help, it is all designed to be as convenient as possible, flexible, suited to your schedule. You just fill out a brief questionnaire, you will get matched with a licensed therapist, and you can switch therapists at any time, by the way, at no additional charge, simply because, I don't know, maybe you guys just aren't vibing, so therefore you just switch it up.

You don't have to jump in your car, you don't have to drive to the other side of the town. And whatever it is that you are going through, you will get the help that you need. Just talking it through. I'm being honest with yourself and being honest with the person, you will feel so much better. And speaking to people, certainly professional therapists, it works, it helps. That's why it exists, right? So if you have, I don't know, if you wanted to do this, now is the time to try because better help, it is seriously the easiest way to do it, okay? There should be no hassle involved. There's no stigma. All you do is visit betterhelp. Com/believe to get 10 % off your first month, and you can thank me later. Be the best version of yourself. Go to betterhelp. Com/believe to get 10 % off your first month. And good luck with your issue, whatever it is, betterhelp. Com/believe if you want to get 10 % off. Jose Aldo got back in stunning form. He looks great. He looked like he had an eighth day. And Steve Ursegg got a moral victory. I mean, Some people were split.

Pantosia got the job done. I think Steve Urseg, his stock only goes up. A lot of people are saying that down the line, one day that man will go on to become a champion. Three fights, now three and one in the UFC after fighting for the belt. Talk about experience at the highest level, going five rounds with Pantosia, going into enemy territory, doing five rounds. His stock has just gone through the absolute roof. So well done to him and well done to Pantosia. What were your thoughts, Anthony?

I thought it was an incredible fight. I thought that Irsig was up, and I thought it was two to two going into the fifth. I thought Irsig with that weird takedown attempt probably caused himself to fight because I thought he was doing well on the fifth round up to that point. But it's hard to really... I He can't be too critical of him. He's got three fights in the UFC, finds himself thrust into a world title fight in the guy's hometown across the world in Brazil. I think it's a positive. He's definitely going to I would be shocked if he isn't number one or number two come today when the rankings come out.

Seven.

Shut up.

I believe something like that. No, it is. Because I saw somebody on social media defending it saying, In a loss, you actually went up one spot. I was like, That doesn't make sense. He should be way higher. Hold on, UFC rankings. Let's have a look. He do. Pantosia. Steve Irsing, number nine.

What?what?

Number nine, which I don't quite get, if I'm honest.

I was getting ready to look him up, but he went from 10 to 9?

I don't know what he was before. Was he 10? It was 10. Yeah, he went at one spot. He went five I'm going to look him up right now.

I'm going to look up these rankings because I don't have them pulled up. Here we go.

Roy Valle, Moreno, Al Bazzi, Caicard, Franz, Perez, Mohamed Mekai, Manuel Kabb, Mateus Nikolaou, Steve Ursec. Listen, it's a bunch of media analysts that do this. I don't get it.

I'm about to be a piece of shit here.

I love it.

There's only Two guys, maybe three. Probably four guys. Sorry, I know.

I forgot we're here. Madela, no, it's fine.

Three or four guys that I would argue to put him ahead of. Other than that, I said one or two on the top of my head. It's hard to put them above Brandon Royveil. It's hard to put them above Moreno. Emir Al Bazzi has only got one loss. Kykar France, you can make the argument, but he's got more time in the division. Alex Perez looked pretty good in his last fight.

Muhammad Mekai has been on a roll. He's undeated.

Minal Kopp and Nikolaou, I would definitely would have jumped him in front of them, probably. But it's hard to jump. You can't jump Perez because then that would put him in front of Mekai. I have. And I would have a hard time. I guess I'm going to walk back what I said before.

And generally because... I mean, listen, yeah, it was to the champion, but you don't really advance in your career off a loss. Just how in a fight, you don't really score any points by being defensive. You know what I'm saying? It's the same thing.

There's not eight people in front of him that will beat him, though. So in terms of the numbers system, I get how they had to stick him back there. I think we could have gone a couple more ahead, but there's definitely not eight people in front of him that are going to beat him. That's for sure. Remember I said in his last fight on the post-show, and I think to you, too, I He said, Irsig might beat them all. He might beat them all. Well,. Saturday night strengthened my thought there.

I tell you, you know what I liked about UFC 301? I liked how Kyle Buja, no offense, Paul Craig, got the job done real quick in round two. I like how Michelle Pahara got the job done in 54 seconds. I loved how you got the job done in two minutes because I'm sitting there at four o'clock in the fucking morning, and I'm literally falling asleep. Do you know what I mean? So I'm going to be honest, I haven't seen the main event. That's why I'm like, Anthony, so give me your thoughts on that one. What do you think about it? What do you think about it?

After your fight, I went to the toilet.

I had the pre-sleep piss, right? Came back and I could hear Aldo getting introduced and my eyes was like... I'd had a couple of drinks, nothing crazy, but I'm like, I just watched. And as I was watching, the eyes were going like... And then as soon as that fight was done, I was like, I'm sorry, I just can't physically do it. I was so tired, five o'clock in the morning or something. I had to go to the airport, so I never saw that one. But I will try and watch it at some point because I'm a massive fan of Pantosia. Well done to both men. Anyway, should we get Hamilton on and see what non-MMA story he has for us.

See what bullshit he's bringing.

Okay, so I figured you guys would be able to give a good take on this one because you do both have children in schools.

A 17-year-old kid in North Carolina, the judge has declared he's going to be tried as an adult after he attacked two of his teachers. One of them was gotten on film by a student in the class, and it's been once.

Oh, Jesus.

You sat down? You think that affected me any?

When we hit you again. When we hit you again. I don't want it.

When we hit you again.

What the hell? When we hit you again. Oh my God.

You got to stop playing with me. I told you, dumb ass, I'm not those dumb ass. I'm not a dumb ass. I'm not your fk name.

And do I look like I care?

That's disgusting. And you know what?

Not one kid jumped up and helped that lady?

Well, that's the thing as well, Anthony, because I see so much stuff on social media. Twitter, as we know, is a success pool for madness these days, and the stuff that you see on there. And then you look around and there's so much violence happening and innocent people getting beat up, and nobody does a thing. But that kid right there, 17 years old, I'm sorry, 17 years old, you know exactly what you were doing. You know better. Well, he has no respect. Now, teachers, I was anti-authoritarian when I was at school. I didn't get along with the teachers because it was a little shit. I didn't do as I was told. I didn't do my homework, so I was always getting in trouble. But you don't take your hands and slap a female.

Yeah, a female, first of all, a teacher, nonetheless. Man, you did that shit in my school. You were getting jumped by the whole class. Even if nobody liked the teacher, that's not what we do. That's not how humans are supposed to operate. That's crazy. He deserves everything he's going to get.

Well, he does. And to be fair, it's... I'm making an excuse for him here. It all starts at home.

It's the power. It's a culture thing. It's just where we're at in this day and age, for sure.

No, it is. It is. You know what? Funnily enough, I just saw a video, Sylvester Stallone on Instagram, and he was showing his old boxing gloves, how they were six houses, and they hurt. And in fact, Brian, go to official Slice to launch, see if you can see this. And he's talking about how times are so soft and weak these days because life is so easy. And I know that's not necessarily related precisely to what we're talking about, but it is in some ways. And the world these days has just gone soft. And that child, well, I say child, that is not a child, that young man should be absolutely goddamn ashamed of himself. Oh, yeah. Here's Sly, the legend. Let's have a listen to this. Cool.

They don't even allow these today. They don't even allow these today because they're so dangerous. But that's what they used when I did the film. They're barely six ounces, they're Reyes, and they're literally lethal. So I still have them because it's a time when people were tougher. Sorry, they were.

Life is just getting a little easier and easier and easier.

That's great. It's wonderful, but it's not. I think when we force ourselves into tough situations, that's what the human creature is supposed to do. They're not supposed to have wheels on their suitcases.

They're not supposed to have lawn mowers with engines that pull them along.

It's a convenience, no question. But it just makes things easier. Now with AI, you can literally put your brain in the pickle jar and have that machine do it.

So I cherish these moments.

I cherish hard work Even though I hate it. I know it's like strong medicine. Takes horrible going down, but it makes you feel better.

Yeah, as I said, not directly related, but I saw that, and I absolutely I love that, what he said there, because, yeah, look, listen, of course, we want an electric lawn mower. We want all the convenience, and I want wheels on my goddamn suitcase, for sure I do. Because it's annoying. The amount of times I've traveled internationally, and one of the wheels has snapped on the suitcase.Oh.

That's the worst.Have you ever had that? Yeah, it's the worst. You can only hope that it happens when you're coming home.

I've had it going there. Oh, no. Rocked up with the damaged suitcase and looked like an I'm an absolute hobo. They're like, he's not doing very well. Buy any suitcase, this thing. But he does bring up some good points. The world has gone soft, and you do need to struggle. I'm telling Callum at the minute, Callum's got a job now, and he's like, Is this here? Is this life? And his personal situation has changed recently, and he's not depressed, but it's like, dude, this is life. Life is hard. Life is hard, and people who just want it to be easy. But that comes later in life. You're supposed to struggle when you're younger. And that little shit for doing that and putting his hands on the teacher, he's going to struggle now. He's going to pay the piper. That's for damn sure, because at 17 years old, you know exactly what you're doing, and he's going to have a lot of consequences. He really is. Have you ever done anything like that, Anthony? Put your hands on a goddamn female for one and a teacher.

Never, never. But here's why. First of all, because I have morals, and it's just goddamn disrespectful and wrong as a man. But I always had this thing in the back of my head that the people around me in my life would feel to crucify me. You know what my old uncle Todd that has the farm that I grew up on, you know what uncle Todd and his friends would have done to me if I ever put my hands on a female or a teacher? They would have drug me out by the pond and beat the fuck out of me and just left me there. What my mother would have done to me, oh, God, if I had embarrassed her like that and brought shame to her for the child that she raised would end up doing something like that, she'd have put a gun in my head. And that's no bullshit. But that's what's lacking in today's society, is people around these people holding them accountable for their actions. There's no chance, even if I wanted to. I never I would have. But if I wanted to, that's what it would have been in the back of my head right away.

Uncle Todd and my mom will literally feel like they're going to kill me. They will physically hurt me. Whatever I do to someone else, they'll do exactly back to me. I've always had that in the back of my head. To this day, I'm on the beach. My Brazil flight wasn't until the evening time. Or my flight back from Brazil wasn't until the evening time. So I'm sitting on the beach, having a couple of beers, we're eating some of those steaks that they have that little shack across the street in Rio. Stop. So good. And Uncle Todd texted me, Good fight. Call when you can. Immediately, I'm like a kid. I'm in trouble. Did I do something? I'm going to call him. I got to call him right away. How's my service? I got to call him. Immediately. As a 35-year-old man, when Uncle Todd says, Call when you can, if you can, you call right now, because That's the type of respect that I have for that man. So immediately, I'm FaceTiming him, and he's like, Oh, we're having beers on the beach. That's what we're doing. Immediately giving me shit. But that's the type of respect that I have for my elders and the people that raise me.

Even as a grown man with my own kids and my own shit going on, when he says call, I call exactly when he says to call. That is lost on society. That's lost on society.

Young men and women, they need that. And sadly, there's a lot of environments and households that don't have those positive influences around them. So as I said before, I'm not making excuses for him because ultimately, there is no excuse for that, and he's in charge of what he does. But you bring up a good point. When I was at school, when I was at high school, we call it skyving. What do you call it? Playing hooky or some shit?

Skipping.

Skipping class, whatever. We had to catch a bus, and I was always late for the bus. And if you missed the bus, that was it. Do you know what I mean? Sometimes I'd walk. It was like a seven-mile And I'd get there and they'd be like, Oh, you've done this on purpose. And I'm like, What do you think I chose to walk seven miles on my own in the middle of summer without any money for a drink or anything? And I never skived. That's what we call it. Never did that once because I knew my dad would kick the shit out of me. You know what I'm saying? I was held accountable. When I was in trouble and the teachers called my dad in, my dad would always have my back to the teachers to a fault, to be honest. And I'm very grateful for him. And sometimes he threatened to beat the teachers up. But as soon as we got back in that car and we were driving home, I was in for it.

You know what I'm saying? That's how my mom was. That's so funny.

My dad was like that. My mom was the complete different, the opposite. The teachers would be complaining about whatever it was that I'd done. And she'd pile extra on. She'd be like, Oh, yeah, yeah. ' And he doesn't have his room, and he's very disrespectful. I'm like, Mom, shut the fuck up. You're making shit worse. I'm on the verge of being expelled here. ' You know what I mean? But to your point, to Uncle Todd, you need that. You need someone around you that's going to fucking hold you accountable and call you out on your bullshit. I'm lucky now I've got Rebecca to do that when you're fighting. You need a manager, you need coaches that are going to do that. And that little kid there, that young man, clearly had no positive influences. But even still, that's not an excuse to go around and be slapping a female teacher in the face as hard as that. For what? I'm sure it was for same words.

To be cool and be a fucking friends.

The same words That he didn't like. And it's just a sad reflection on the state of society these days.

And I spoke on it a little bit. I know we're dragging this on, but- Good. I spoke on it a little bit in my post-fight press conference after the fight. And I think I got on this tangent because I'm so passionate about this exact subject. They were saying, well, you catch a lot of hate. I'm like, listen, I catch hate because I tell the truth, and it makes people uncomfortable. Because people these days aren't used to seeing someone just be honest. It all goes into this social media world that we see, this fake bullshit that you see on Instagram, these Instagram-perfect lives, and these couples and these relationships. It's so fake that is doing damage to society because these young kids, these young adults, these young men, these young women that are struggling a little bit, or they don't quite know where they fit in the world, or maybe even in Callum's situation, where whatever's going on with his personal life, or his job, or his school, or his injuries when he was in college, he was wrestling still. Then they scroll their phone and they see everybody that they know is having these perfect lives, and these perfect relationships, and these perfect get-togethers with their friends, and all these workouts they're getting into are so goddamn incredible all the time.

It just makes you feel like shit about yourself when in all reality, those people's lives really suck. And maybe they don't all suck, but they're not that good. They're not picture perfect in every single moment. I just wish we got a little bit more realness in life and on non-soul social media. I'm guilty of it, too. I don't show all the bullshit that goes on. What I should start doing is when my wife is bitching at me for leaving my laundry on the floor or the real shit that happens. But I only post The shit that looks good. I post some cool videos, the little cuts that the editors make. So I'm as guilty of it as anybody. But I guess when I'm consuming it, I'm aware that this isn't real. Correct. When I'm scrolling through.

Because you're not putting out a conscious effort to scam and mislead everybody. You're posting things that you're proud of. You posted something that you just won your fire. You did an interview with someone. You said a nice sound bite or whatever the case may be. You're not trying to mislead anybody, but everyone does the same thing. And for the viewer, for the consumer, that's all they see because you're right. When shit goes south, when you're having financial problems, when you're having marital problems or whatever the case may be, the last thing you're thinking about is, let's go to social media and talk about this unless you're an absolute attention whore that's putting out their personal private problems. And I do see some people doing that and making it all woe is me, when realistically, they don't have it bad at all because there's another attention that people like as well. People want to be pitted sometime.

They want people to feel bad for them.

They want them to feel bad and think, oh, God, you've got it so bad. And sometimes these people, they don't have it bad at all. You're right. I mean, the social media thing everyone knows. For the most part, it's all bullshit. You can't judge people's lives and existences on that. I was trying to think if it was. There's someone that I know, and I know for a fight that their relationship is really bad. Do you know what I mean?

Well, don't say who it is.

No, I'm not going to say who it is. I'm not even going to say what country it's in. And if anyone watching this has no idea who I'm talking about. But I know Jesus Christ. They're splitting up every two seconds, and they're always arguing and shit like that. But on social media-Oh, they love each other. They are in love. They're having a great time.

Anyway, bro, I told you that in confidence.

I think this is a good conversation for people to hear, though. I felt like a lot of the comments on that, just that one statement I had on my post fight thing, I think people appreciate that. For the most part, we're all regular ass people with regular ass problems. Why can I get bitched at from our wives as much as any of you guys at home? I promise you. We hear it as much as anybody, I promise you. And then I'm not perfect. And she'll make sure that I know it. And that's real life.

I think for the young people, it's important to know that because as you say, and there is some people that are blessed. There's some people that are, and they come from a A very wealthy family, and life has just been kind to them, and they were dealt a great hand, and that's awesome and good luck for them. Can't be jealous. Being jealous of somebody doesn't get you anywhere. You're just going to focus on yourself and on your own life and make the best of the situation that you have. This episode is sponsored by Mando Deodorant from the makers of Lumideodorant, which is clinically proven to control the odor, the body odor, the bad smells that you may suffer from for 72 hours. In the clinical study, many who showered with soap and used Mando Hold Body Deodorant in their pits, they had an odor score of zero out of 10 after 12 hours, which means they didn't smell. Many who showered with soap alone, they had an arm pit order score of eight out of 10 after 12 hours. Well, why is that? Well, it's clinically proven to stop your body creating the orders in the first place for up to 72 hours.

As As I say, some people suffer with this, some people don't. If you're one of them, you want to give this a try. You don't want to go through your life smelling. You don't want to be the butt of stupid jokes. You don't want it to affect your confidence. I'm speaking to friends, trying to meet a girl or whatever, and you're constantly smelling your pits and thinking, Shit, that doesn't smell good. I mean, for example, I was talking to Rebecca Saturday night. We were at a thing. Her breath, I'm sorry to say, it stunk. I said, Babe, you got to choose some gum. You got to take care of this. It was bad. And she doesn't really suffer with that. She had the gum, and therefore the breath got better. It's the same thing. If you have bad deodorium, sorry, if you have bad odors, if you suffer from B. O, take care of it. Handle it, no problem. And Do it with Mando. Right now, new customers, go to shopmando. Com, and you can get $5 off a starter pack with the exclusive code and link, as I said, that is shopmando. Com. The code is bisping for $5 off your starter pack.

By the way, as I say, clinically proven to block all order and control order for up to 72 hours. It's baking soda free, paraben free, pH balance for safe use below the belt if you want to use it there. And as I said, Clinically proven to control odor, better than a shower and soap alone. So one more time, new customers get $5 off the Mando starter pack with the code bisping when you go to shopmando. Com. That equates to over 40 % off the starter pack when you go to shopmando. Com and you use the code bisping. But Harrington, jump back on. In fact, do we even need Harrington for this? Probably not. Harrington, jump back off. Get lost. Ryan Garcia, right? Yeah. Dooled the world, missed weight, beat Devon Haynie, test positive for Osterine, You think you did it? Well, generally, because Sean O'Malley has been brought into this by Conor McGregor as well. In fact, Harrington, just bring up Conor's tweet as you read it out for us. I don't have it off the top of my head. Sean O'Malley tested positive for osteine. I think it might have been twice. And everyone knows I've always been the strongest advocate for clean sport.

And I never I ever believed these situations. Just hold the phone one second, Hamilton. I never believe the excuses, but until I spoke to Jeff Nowitzky about it. Jeff Nowitzky convinced me, said, No, Michael, in some situations, These people are innocent because of the manufacturing plants of these supplements don't do a good job in cleaning off the equipment before they start producing. So I never believe them. But Jeff Nowitzky was like, and he knows this from From an educated standpoint, four better than I do. I just know it from a meat-eats culture. I know it from I never took anything, and I never tested positive. And all of a sudden, these people are testing positive. And he was like, Well, no, to be fair, having looked at this, having had scientists at the laboratory on a molecular level, we can safely say that people did take contaminated supplements. So that's a long roundabout way of saying, I don't know.

That's a tough one.

Sean O'Malley and Jeff, I think it was Jeff Novitzky that he was talking about. It was like, I'm telling you, we've looked into this in a lot of detail, and we're very He was very confident.

Well, I'm talking about Brian Garcia. Of course, we'll never know, probably. But I was surprised. He doesn't come off as a... I wouldn't have ever pegged him as a As a steroid guy.

I always said, well, listen, because I was never very careful. I didn't take a lot of supplements, but when I did, I never really studied the back of them, and I never had an issue. So that's why I was always very serious.

Well, I don't take any, so I don't know shit about shit. If I'm just being very honest, I don't know anything about anything because I don't take any supplements. Test me, I'm going to test positive for Moscow Meals light beer steak in plastic from the straws.

In your system at a molecular level. The interesting thing is, remember, he bet $2 million on himself, and he won $12 million. One would assume he'd have to give that $12 million back, right?

No. No.

But he cheated, technically.

Technically, the fight is still considered a win.

Listen, the reality is we don't know, but they're going to test the B sample. I think it is. And if that comes back positive, then they're going to have to make it a no contest. And if they make the fight a no contest, then Ryan García is going to have to give back $12 million.

So I have a question on the B Sample. Why would that be different than the original sample? Let's say he did have a contaminated shake that morning. Why would the B sample be different?

I have no idea.

It wouldn't. It wouldn't. Because the B sample, for those people that have never been drug tested or anything, the A sample and the B sample are actually, for lack of a better term, it's the same piss. You pee into a cup, and then they just separate it into two samples, and then they send that out to be tested. So theoretically, it wouldn't be any different, or it shouldn't be.

It's just looking for a bad test. They're saying, retest it, see if it pops again. And more than likely, I don't know if there's ever been a situation where they have differed. I'm sure there has. I can't think of one. But number one, let's just assume right now, as it stands, he tested positive. He's probably going to have to, and if that stands, he'll have to give him $12 million.

Not necessarily, because if you fight someone else and I bet $2 million on you, and then you win, and I win $12 million, if you pop hot, I don't owe that money back.

Yeah, but if they change the verdict to a no contest because of certainly It's something that- Well, think how many people would have lost money on guys failing tests if that was the case, if people had to give their winnings back. And the people also that won money on Ryan Garcia. I'm just throwing it out there for a conversation point. I don't know the actual I don't know the facts on this. Brian, if you look that up, I don't think- I don't think.

I don't know the facts. Well, like every person that bet on Ryan Garcia wouldn't have to give that money back. So the bookies just lose. Yeah, I think he just bet as a regular gambler. Just because it's on itself doesn't make it any different.

Yeah, but as we said, you can't bet on yourself to lose because you can just draw the fight. You can bet on yourself to win. But you can bet on yourself to win when you're popping loads of steroids. It might just open your chances. I think it can. I don't know. That doesn't sound logical, though.

It doesn't. Somebody on Reddit is saying, so I'm not sure how- Must be true. Whatever, but they seem like they know what they're talking about, says, The outcome of the fight is the decision the ref gives on the night at the end of the fight. So that's what you're betting on.

But correct, but if they overturn it, that'll be the commission, which the referees are part of. If they overturn it, that would change that decision.

But if you go to the window with $2 million and get a slip, and then you cash that slip in, what are they going to do? They don't necessarily know where you live. You know what I mean? How would they have any recourse to get that money back?

It says here, you can't go back and use an after-the-fact, arbitrary commission decision to try and overturn a bet that's already been settled. And he uses the example of Verdu lost to Ferrara, Verdu lost and Ferrara won.

Okay. Verduem lost. Verduem was the one probably taking the juice. He tested positive a couple of times. I mean, listen, that's not the big talking point anyway. The talking point is that he tested positive, which is a shame because either way it taint the performance and it taint the victory. Then Conor McGregor chimed in with Harrington.

He said, She took the weight and was juiced. Lifetime ban. Sad to see, sad to say, sad and a bit sick. Don't come near me if you ever see me, Ryan Garcia. I'm actually disgusted. The Austrian, it reminds me of Sean O'Malley. He was on that as well. I don't like this. I'll bust you both up. Do you want to spar? I'll set flights now for you both for a full on spar each. Two little Austrian heads. I'll ride you both like your ostracids.

What the fuck is up?

Why do you think you're at?

A for Effe.

Who the fuck is he to be calling somebody out on juicing.

Well, what did Ryan Garcia say?

That's your conversation point.

This is where we're going. Never mind the bet himself. We're not on the good stuff here. Other people are on the good stuff. What was the response from Ryan Garcia? Ryan Garcia said he's going to break his leg or something like that. Harrington, real quick. Harrington, real quick.

It's in the launch. Read in Ryan Garcia's voice.

Yeah, you got to do it in a non-racist Ryan I'm going to see a voice because everything's racist.

If I see Conor O'Gaia, I'm going to break his weak-ass ankle. You ran from being tested because you were on roids.

Now say it in a Mexican voice.

But you I just said.

You guys see Conor McGregor? I'm going to break his weak ass ankle. You ran from being tested because you were on roids. Now say it in a Mexican voice. But you just said. If I see Conor McGregor, I'm going to break his weak ass ankle.

You ran from being tested because you were on roids. Yeah, see.

See, see.

Say something, Anthony.

Say what?

I don't know something.

About that. What do you think?

What do you make of all of this?

Oh, you want me to start the partnership first? Okay.

No, no, no, no, no, I don't think that Conor McGregor broke any rules, and I'm not going to say that he did.

But we do know that he was taking substances that would typically be banned under our drug testing protocol to heal his broken leg. It does seem a bit weird that he's the one that wants to... But to his credit, he didn't take it in fight.

Yeah.

And then he got back in the testing pool, and now he's been back. So he had to expect that that was coming, though. He had to expect that that was coming.

To be fair, we don't know this. This is speculated. And when you look at physics and stuff like that, of course, you see why.

He was never denied it. And he said that he had a devastating leg injury and that he had to take some things to help heal it or whatever, and brought up Wyman and not being able to and whatever. But he had to have known that that was coming down the pipe, though. If he's ever going to give anyone any shit for taking banned substances, you got to know that that's coming back at you.

Well, that'll be the first thing. That would be the first thing I got to.

That would be the first thing I went to.

But in his defense, never tested positive in a competitive situation, bearing in mind there's in competition testing and there's other competition testing. And he never tested positive in either of those situations. I'm not defending him. I'm the last man to defend, but he took himself out of the testing pool. He was essentially retired for that period of time.

He's no more I'm not guilty of anything that Donna Cerroni is right now. Neither of them are fighting. Both of them were using some shit to feel better. And as of right now, neither one of them have fought.

Cerroni is a big fan of the steroids, though, isn't he? Obviously, what he's been saying-He looks good.

He looks like a million bucks.

What did he do recently? Tore his bicep so he could ride the bull, and he was like... Then he got off at a fight or something. He's like, I ain't coming off this shit. I'm paraphrasing. He's like, I ain't coming off this shit. I feel 21 again.

Have you ever thought about getting on any of that stuff, Mike, as you're getting older?

No, I haven't. No, but I might give it a go. I've got... Let's have a look. God damn. He looks good. He does look It does look good. He looks 21, though. He might need to get himself out to Cherokee. You ever thought about Anthony?

I think he did. Yeah, I think I got a friend that said he'll go with me. The only thing that's helped me back from going is I haven't wanted to go alone.

So now you You're going to Cherokee, you're going to come back with a full head of her.

Yeah, I might.

This Anthony Smith, he wins one fight.

And now look at him.

And who do you think you are? Look at you. You know what I mean? Calling out Alex Pereira, growing a full head of her. We're going to have to He changed the artwork on the podcast. The intro is going to have to be changed. Jesus Christ.

The voice, yeah, be more manly. Yeah, he did actually go out to Turkey. His hair look... Yes, he did. Full head of hair. Full head of hair.

Good for him. Do you know There's nothing wrong with that at all. It's modern science. Back to my question.

Have you thought about... I don't know, just because they say as people are getting older, their testosterone is lower, the peptides will help you heal a little bit, especially with your neck injuries and stuff that's going on there. You think it would help? Yeah.

No, I haven't. I am going to go do stem cells. I'm going to go down to Columbia soon. I've never messed with peptides, any of that stuff, but I do need to look into it.

I don't know anything about them. I just hear people after they retire, get on them and that makes them feel better.

I had what he called a conference with the stem cell people because I knew nothing about it. And it was absolutely fascinating, to be honest. I said, So from a layman's perspective, can you explain what stem cells are and what they do? And they take the cells from the umbilical cord of babies that never made it, shall we say? And he said, These cells have the ability to become human beings. They have everything that makes us a person. And if I'm butchering this and you're a bio student or whatever, apologies. But this was my understanding. These cells have everything in them, the keys to life locked in them. And they inject them into you, and it can regenerate cartilage, ligaments, all kinds of damaged tissue and all the rest of it inside your body. And that's what it does. And in South America, it's something like 500 times more more effective and powerful than what the regulatory bodies will allow in the United States. So I'm excited. I can't wait to get down there. Thank you to Bio Accelerator. I'm off to Colombia, baby.

Let's go.

I'm coming back.

You need a travel partner?

I'll have no stick man in the middle of my forehead. The reality is I'm just going to take loads of TRT, tons of Botox. Do you know what I mean? And just invest in heavily in face creams. What was I talking about, though? Sean O'Malley. Sean O'Malley got dragged into this, which I didn't really see why McGregor would go for Sean O'Malley.

He caught a stray.

He caught a stray bullet. Now, granted, he did test positive once. And as I said, I think there was a fair explanation for that. And in the past, I was hesitant to believe that. But now, I'm still not 100%, but you know. And he was a massive fan of Conor McGregor.

Yeah, I had heard.

And now it's not.

Did you have that video? I wouldn't be either.

And Sean O'Malley is fighting at the Sphere, apparently, against Marabda Valeshvili.

Oh, that's a good one.

There's lots of segues and tangents and stuff like that, but I was jumping on any of them. Oh, Jesus Christ. Speaking of next, I got to go see the doctor soon. Do we have anything that we need to get to, Harrington, in the notes before we wrap this one up? A bit of a shorter one. I got to go see the doctor.

Harrington?

No. Thank you for saying it, Anthony.

Harrington.

I'm looking here, as you said, There was rumors Marab came out on Indian. It was like a UFC program in India said that he is fighting Sean O'Malley at the Sphere. O'malley took the Instagram. He took a photo of himself and said, I've been asking for that date at the Sphere, and Dana and Mick keep coming back and saying no. So as of right now, according to Sean O'Malley, that is not the plan. But Marab, I don't know. The guy seems to be manifesting quite a bit.

Yeah, but to be honest, that's going to be Mexican Independence Day. It doesn't really make sense. Marab's from Georgia, Sean O'Malley's American. For the theme of that event, it doesn't really fit. It doesn't really fit. You need somebody like an Alexa Grasso and Valentina Shevchenko at the end of the ultimate fighter. That would be a perfect one. But if you're going to have O'Malley and Marab, they're going to be the main event for sure, because Sean O'Malley is Sean O'Malley. But I did feel his pain when he was saying... Because he was like, For Conor McGregor. He was like, Why don't they just say... Did he say Send the Jet? Send the Jet? I'd like to see that.

Yeah, I would watch it.

So he tweeted out Send the Jet, and then he went on his podcast and was like, Look, man, I was more sad than angry about anything. And I'm hoping Michael Chandler kicks his ass.

Yeah, that's crazy what Connor did. Yeah, fuck Connor. Oh, yeah.

Yeah, fuck Connor, man.

I've seen a lot of people being like, Damn, I bet Sugar's sad. Sugar always just talks nothing but great about Connor, and he's just been an idol. He just went on a little tweet rant, booger sugared up, talking shit. I thought he was out for a spa. I'm like, Bro.

That'd be sick. Why should Conrad be at the gym? Sure. You know what I'm saying? But yeah, it was more sad than mad. I'm like, God. Because it really was, I mean, you're one of your favorites forever. Oh, yeah. Now I cannot wait to see Michael Chandler absolutely just sleep.

I'm turning up. I'm changing up real quick. Fuck, Conrad. Fuck, Conrad. Hey, fair play.

So you have-How fucking badass would it be if Connor sent the jet and O'Malley got on it? That'd be so fucking hard.

Why wouldn't you? If McGregor sent a jet, let's just say Pereira was Conor McGregor, and he sent a jet. And you're the same weight class. They're not even the same weight class. Do you see a world where Sean O'Malley would not get on that jet? Because I don't.

Oh, you get on it to go fight. As long as there's some cameras, you get on that shit.

A hundred %. You don't say no.

No.

It's a win-win for all Malle. For sure.

How cool, though.

Okay, let's go. We're going. All right, so we're going to do one question. Only one. All right. One question. If you have any questions, the reason being I've got to get to a doctor's appointment, so apologies. Apologies, we didn't have it yesterday at the show. Anthony Smith was traveling, and I was jet lagged to the max, and it was very convenient to wait till today. But to be honest, it wouldn't have been right. I didn't want to do the show without you on it.

I'm glad you guys waited. I'm happy.

Yeah, no, man. No, that would have just been weird. If you got a question, please send it into bympod@gmail. Com.

And if you're listening on iTunes, Spotify, wherever you find podcast, make sure to subscribe and leave us a five star rating. Positive reveal really helps out on those platforms. If you're watching on YouTube, make sure to subscribe to the channel and you hit that notification bell to find out whenever a new video drops. And if you want to catch over 500 episodes, you can't find anywhere else. Completely ad-free and totally uncensored, head to gastiginal. Com. Use the promo code bym14. Get a two-week retrial. Check it over 20 great shows on the network.

All right. Today, our first and only question is going to be from Benji from Scotland. Okay.

Hey, guys.

Benji here from a surprisingly sunny Scotland.

So my question is, with the dust of UFC 300 well and truly settled, why do we not have one big event every year? Now, I know there's some fantastic events throughout the whole year with UFC, and I'm truly grateful for that. But if you think about the football World Cup, sorry, soccer, the Olympics, it's a four-yearly event. There's a huge buzz around it.

I mean, we look at the Super Bowl, for example.

Why do we not have one huge event every single year. We managed to fit the card top to bottom with big, big stars.

There was no Conor McGregor, no Adesanya, no John Jones, no Hamza.

There was no big, big, big names, if you know what I mean. We still managed to get the best card of all time.

Why do we not do it every single year? It would really put the cherry on top of the cake in this amazing sport.

I don't know.

Let me know your thoughts. Big shout out to everyone. Keep up the good work. Even you, Harrington.

Appreciate you, brother. Thanks for the question. And I'm sorry to say this, but they do put put on multiple big events each year. There's one coming up. It's called International Fire Week. I think that started in 2009. It's every single year. There is the end of year pay-per-views. That are generally a big deal. Ufc 290 '99, apparently, was way better than UFC 300, and UFC 300 was a lot of shit. I get what he's saying because they are centennial events, so there was an extra hype and an extra buzz. But what would you say to that question, Anthony?

Yeah, I was going to say the same But also, if you're talking about the type of card where you put two former champions versus each other in the first fight of the night, the problem with doing those fights, those cards, it logistically, it's too hard to do. You do that every single year. Some of those guys on those cards only fight once or twice a year anyways. So then you're holding the guy back for the entire year, or you're just with the way that timeline's and injuries, it's too hard to do it like that. But to to be fair, we do international fight week every single year is a barn burner event. So yeah, but I get it. The 300 card doesn't happen all the time, but that's set into motion six, seven months ahead of time. Cody Brundish knew about that fight for four months. It holds a lot of people back. It doesn't work out.

You're absolutely right in everything what you said. And a perfect example. So Some people said, and I'll choose my words carefully, Oh, UFC 301 is a bit of a let down. I thought it was a great card, and it certainly lived up to our expectation. They could have taken multiple fights from UFC 300 and had it on 301. They could have had Charles Oliveira. They could have had Alex Pereira. They're both Brazilians and two of the biggest names in the sport. They could have had Davis and Figaredo on that. So I'm exemplifying your point. You know what I'm saying? If you do that, it cannibalizes from other cards. Other cards. And that's why the 100 to 200 to 300, four, five, six, they are big blockbuster extra special events. But as I said, the top of the question, international fight week, end of the year. What other ones is there? The Super Bowl weekend is usually a big one.

That's usually a big one.

Memorial Day.

First day of the year is usually pretty big.

Msg every year.

Msg, Harrington with the win.

Now the Mexican Independence Day.

How can we forget There's usually a big London card or an England card.

Manchester is coming up.

Paris is now also a yearly destination.

It's a destination.

I love it. Australia is usually a pretty big event.

I mean, Jesus Christ. It's getting ridiculous now. What else have we got? China.

Nebraska should be a yearly event.

Fucking UFC, Nebraska. When is that going to happen?

I don't know. Hopefully soon. Probably never, though.

Ufc Omaha.

Ufc Omaha.

That's the show, everyone. We'll be back on Thursday. Thursday, we'll be back. We got Tatiana Suarez joining us for a little chit chat. We're also going to have another guest yet to be arranged, but I'll be in St. Louis, Missouri. Good fight card this weekend. St. Louis. That's a big one.

That's a good one.

Anthony, congratulations again, buddy. Thank you. We're all proud of you. Enjoy victory. Guys, see you Thursday.