Filler up. You're listening.

To the Gas Digital Network.

Conceived, believe, achieve. Shut the fuck up. You're listening to.

Believe U.

Me with Michael the.

Countess Bing... You know my name yet?

And Anthony Lionheart Smith.

We're back. How are we doing, everyone? Believe U Me podcast is back. We got a big show. What have we got? We've got Joff. We've got Joff. I've just walked off. I've had five hours late. Hold on, who've we got? We got Burkeet Buckley, Mohamed McKive, he's fighting in UFC London, and we got the K Hawking, the Immortal, Matt Brown all joining us today. But that's in a little bit. First of all, you got to put up with me and Anthony Smith.

You got to.

I got usual.

Ramblings of nonsense. Let me get this fixed. There we go.

Now we're good. The WiFi is all sorted out today.

It is. We got it all fixed. I don't have to have a goddamn heart attack because I was so angry, but we're good. I'm Crispy. We're fast. We're Crispy, we're fast. I need this today, Michael. I need this today. You know how you see, sometimes the believers will say, Oh, I'm glad you guys got this episode out. It helps get me through the day. Some days, I need to just lock out all the other bullshit that's going on, and we can just sit here and talk.

Honest to good, but the bad. So basically what you're saying is that I'm your therapist.

A little bit, yeah.

A little bit.

Well, I got my glasses on. How are you feeling today? What's on your.

Mind, dad? I'm overwhelmed today, I'm overwhelmed. Really? Yeah. We got this fifth grade graduation for my oldest. It's the last day of school. I'm trying to load this trailer. I was up bright and early having to go pick up the trailer, bring it back, load the stuff, try to get on, make sure I'm on time, come in here. Then I got to get off of here, go straight to the school, and then drive 10 hours.

Well, I was at bloody power slept last night till 1 o'clock in the bloody morning. I'm jealous. I'm up for the crack of dawn. Hey, listen, it was time to talking. Somebody came over. They were like, We got to get Anthony Smith. He's a catcher. I'm like, I know. I know. I said, It's not me. It's not me. So we got a big job plan. We got lots and lots of things to talk about. Where are you flying to shortly? You're jumping on a plane, right? Or you got a.

10 hour drive? Yeah, I got a 10 hour drive. Mina, Arkansas.

That's what I'm doing. Mina, Arkansas.

All right. Maybe running to Brice. I don't know anything about Arkansas except for Brice Mitchell.

And you're going there for the daughters, what is it?

No, I'm just going to ride my Razors on the trails.

Who was it? We had one of the power savers when we did the fight at meetings. He said, Yeah, I'm going to make some money. I'm going to buy myself a razor. And Charlie, Oh, no. God, are you married? I'm assuming you're not married. And he's like, Why would you say that? And he's like, Well, because you're going to go out and buy some stupid toys. And is like, I'm married with four kids or something like that. I forget. And it made me think of you straight away. In fact, I went, Oh, Anthony Smith has a razor. They're supposed to be awesome. In fact, a few days ago in Vegas when I was filling up with gas to drive home super organized, did it the day before so I don't have to stop in the middle of the night, a razor pulled up on the gas station. I didn't know you could drive those things on the streets.

You can in a lot of places, but there are some places you can. There are some cities that allow it.

They do look cool, to be fair. What does one of them cost again?

It depends. Nowadays, they're a little more expensive, but between 20 and 35.

20 and 35. Okay, well, that's not bad. It did look pretty bad ass, I must admit. And then my daughter Ellie, her and her boyfriend, they were off recently because he's got a racer. So they were off riding it. But still, this morning, so I'll wake up bright and early, set my alarm. I've always got to give myself... Because hydrogen and b ryan, you guys are three hours ahead. They're almost dead. They're like, You guys are three hours ahead. They're like, Well, we've been working. We work in the.

Content minds of Gas Digital, Mike. We got to get in there long days.

They.

Will wake up.

They touch you, feel you over there.

They wake up and then turn the cameras on. I don't know how they do it.

I was saying to Brian, I said, I've got to give myself maybe it's because I'm getting older. Because in the past, I was talking about this to Rebecca, when I was working, dead end jobs, minimum wage, all the rest of it, I remember one factory I worked at this coffee factory. I would start work at 7am. I would wake up out of bed at 647, throw on yesterday's work clothes, run in the bathroom, splash my face, brush my teeth, and then run. And it was like about a mile run. This is straight out of bed. You're sprinting in the pitch dark, the middle of winter, across this park, down by the railway track, because I knew I had three minutes to clock in. If you got past three minutes, you were classed as late. Too many lates and you're down the road. Just sprint and I just clock in, just on time. Every day. Every day. And I didn't see anything wrong with that. But now as a 44 year old man, even though I only had four or five hours sleep last night, I still set my alarm. So I have an hour to sit in bed, you know what I mean?

Have my two coffees, watch the news, scroll social media, look at my emails, figure out the show. Do you know what I mean? Just getting old, I think.

Yeah, I don't do very well with getting up and going. My wife is like that, though. The second she opens her eyes, she's rolling and ready to go. It takes me a minute. I do the same thing. I'm just scrolling around. I got to wake up. I don't do the two coffee thing. I do one coffee, one monster.

I don't do two coffees. I do one coffee and the monster, which is like five coffees. Jeez, Louise, you are caffeineated, you are turbo boosted and you are ready to rock. Before you all start with your bit speaking, the mainstream media, I put the news on Tina Turner's dead. Old Tina Turner, she's gone. Eighty three years old. And I said, oh, that's a shame. Rebecca's like, Michael, she was 83 years old. I'm like, you're right, you're right. But still, it's Tina Turner. You know what I mean? My mom used to blast that in the house.

Why are women like that? Because my wife said the same thing. We're just driving and she said, we're just driving. And she's like, oh, my God, Tina Turner died. I was like, oh, my God. That's really sad. And she goes, well, she was old as shit. I was like, it still sucks.

It's still awful. It's still someone's dad. And she's a legend. Whenever I think of Tina Turner, look, listen, I'm not a massive Tina Turner fan. I can't pretend to be. I think I know two songs. One is, of course, because Prince Nasim Hamad, you're simply the best. B oom, boom, boom. Better than all. What a tune that is, man. But I think it's more for my mea l cons. Prince Nasim Hamad, his Walk Out.

That was his Walk Out song?

That was his Walk Out song. Oh, dude. His Walkouts were legendary. He would have that blast and he'd Walk Out. And I don't know, so my throne and people were carrying him and everyone was singing that song because it's one of those... It's like when Darrell Till used to walk out and he'd have Sweet Caroline on. It's one of those, the whole crowd knows the words. They're all singing Sweet Caroline. It's epic.

It forces you to sing along.

Well, it's like, what is it? Return of the back. How does that go again? It's early.

Come.

On, give me a few bars now, today.

I know I can't sing and I don't know the words.

You might want to figure that out. That's why you're losing, bro. It could be. It could be. Look at this.

Wow.

And what a box of things N'Azeem.

Ahmed was. Yeah, so unique for his time.

Have you watched much of his highlights on YouTube?

I love watching his highlights, yeah.

He's unbelievable, man. The way he used to move.

He was way ahead of his time. His movement is just his unique style.

I remember, what was I doing at the time? I think we were just pulling weeds at the side of the freeways or the motorways. And one of the lads went, Oh, my God, because we were in Sheffield City just outside of Manchester. And that's where he's from. I just seen... Sorry, I keep saying I'm bloody, I'm a con. I've just seen Prince Naseem Ahmed jogging down the street. And I was so jealous because I never got to see it. I just wanted to catch a glimpse of it. Do you know what I mean? What do you think he's doing now?

You ever wonder that? What are people like?

He's fat as shit.

Is he?

God bless him. God bless him.

I wonder how old he is.

I have no idea. But he's living life. He's enjoying himself and he's stuffing himself with meat pies by the look of it. So old Tina's God bless her. Made me think and I put it in the text because I was like, All right, it's sad. I can't pretend I'm a massive Tina Turner fan. And in fact, Ralph Sutton, one of the owners of Gas Digital, as I was having my coffee, I scrolled through and he put a meme or something. I'm not sure how Tina died, but I'm sure L over has got something to do with it or something like that. And I thought it was pretty funny because they're the only two songs I know. So I'm not some massive Tina Turner fan. But it made me think, Who if they passed away, like a celebrity, would I really be bothered about? And then the next thing that I scrolled past was Arnold Schwarzenegger. And I thought, if old Arnold, because he's 75 or something these days. And for the day he passes away, that will be a sad day in the big household for me anyway.

Yeah, I never even thought about Arnold. That would be an impact on the world, too. It'd be a big deal. I was.

Trying to think of someone. Come on, who would matter in the Smith household?

Okay, I was trying to think of someone super mainstream because the one that would actually bother me is stupid. But...

Give it us. Let's go.

Do you watch Law and Order?

I'm aware of the show, but I can't say I'm a regular consumer. I am.

The biggest Law and Order fan. Since I've been a kid. Since I started watching it, I've had the biggest crush on Olivia, the detective. Right ow when you sent that text, I would be heartbroken if Olivia from Law & Order died. It would hurt my feelings a lot.

Brian, you got to bring up a still of her, please, because I have no context. I have no idea what you're talking about.

See, that's why I was.

Trying to think of it. I don't.

Know who, Olivia from Law & Order. A more mainstream one. It was like, Hey, because.

No one knows who she is. She's a human being. She touched your soul. She touched your heart. She made it different. She made an impact. Let's have a look at her.

There she is.

Is that her in a prime or is that her today?

It's her every day, all day, bro.

It's a more recent picture.

Good old Olivia.

But in the Smith household in general, if Usher died, it would be a very sad day around here.

Yeah. Well, I'm sorry. I got to go with the terminator because when he dies, he won't be back. When the day comes, he will not be get back and there will be no more Astor Lovista's. When you look at Arnold, what a guy, what a journey. I read his autobiography. I mean, he comes from super humble background, becomes the biggest bodybuilder on the planet, becomes the biggest movie star, becomes the governor of California. Still smash it today. I subscribe. He does a little newsletter these days. He sends out a newsletter every day, so I subscribe to that. Where's the motivation and stuff like that. Shout out to the Terminator. We got three guests jumping on soon. What do we think here? This has been doing the rounds. We'll jump into a couple of MMA stories before. Joaquin Buckley. Who did he just knock out? It's early. He just had a massive knockout.

Andre Fiala. Andre Fiala. What a.

Performance that was. I've never spoken to Joff Bukley. Obviously, I see him at UFC events. He's got a big personality, he's a character. He was at the power slap events this week. In fact, I put it on my Instagram and he was there and they were slapping a pad and stuff. And I walked through and I was like, Give me a go at that. Let me have a go. I almost blew the guy's shoulder out. I swear to God. He was like, Oh God. Oh shit. Last time I slapped one of the guys and this time I've blown out someone's shoulder. Do you know what I mean? They're like, Yeah, Bispy's got to go.

It's got to be a lot of fun to just hang out with those guys because they're all maniacs and they just seem like just a fun group of guys just to be in a room with.

Yeah, they are. They are definitely maniacs. But some of them are just real nice, just family guys. But Buckley was knocking around and you could just feel his energy. You know what I mean? As I said, I've never had a proper conversation. Just, Hey, how are you? In the ring, just doing that stuff. Just doing that stuff. Just doing that in the ring. Just all day long. Me and Joff, working Buckley. God, I'm childish. One day I'll grow up, regardless of how early I get up for my coffee, still a knob. So I'm looking forward to talking to him and learning a bit about his story. One big one, a guy that's been away for a while, Hamza Chimeyov. Now, I don't know if this is official, but he has a YouTube channel and he says that he's fighting in Abu Dhabi in October and he wants Usman. The quote here is Usman wants to fight. I'll make it his last fight. He wants money. He knows what the money is. Everyone knows brother, the money. Now I'm going to fight this guy in Abu Dhabi and smash his face, finish him. Then they have to give me that shot.

That's according to him. But then they did say that U zman showed up at the UFC headquarters, pretty much demanding a fight with Hamza Chimev. You got to give it to Kamara Usman. It's crazy. What a guy. You're on top of the world. You're the pound for pound number one. You're defending the belt, what, I don't know, six times or something like that. You're fighting nothing but Killers, number one contenders. He loses the belt in devastating fashion, loses the rematch. The trilogy is done. And who does he want to fight next? Hamza Chimaev. If that doesn't tell you the balls on the man, I don't know what does.

Yeah, it's a bold move for sure, which it says a lot about where he is mentally because I think a lot of people were writing him off just a little bit and saying, oh, he's done. He's probably just going to fade off into retirement. But him wanting to fight Hamza is the total opposite of that. It's a tough fight, I think, for Kamaro and for him just being very honest and fair with my analysis, I think what he does well fits right into Hamzah's game. I think maybe a younger, maybe less beat up Kamaro, I think that fight's a little bit different. He's not as much of a wrestler as he used to be. He used to chase the take down just relentlessly. I don't think that he's even has the capability to really do that anymore just with his knees and some of that stuff. But anyways, I don't want to get too far into analysis of a fight that hasn't even been booked yet.

But I.

Think it's ballsy because of the style match up, just the mentality just to want to do that. I am curious, though, why Hamza has been on the shelf for so long because he seemingly has been begging for a fight, says he'll fight anybody anytime. He's ready to go. And then Balal has talked about fighting him at certain points. Kamal is ready to fight him. There is a couple of people that are willing to step up and do it. And for whatever reason, it just hasn't happened. So it seems like there's something else going on in the background.

Dana said something along the lines of he had some personal issues, something like that. So, hey, listen, whatever it is, I just want to see the guy back in the octagon. But you're right, it's a tricky one for Usman stylistically. I think Usman, sorry, Hamza generally or naturally is the bigger guy. The wrestling will at least counter out one another and make it a non thing. Or Hamza would probably be the more explosive, bigger, stronger, potentially a better wrestler just simply because of age. And it hits hard as well. So it's a really, really tough fight and a buzzy fight. But then they said they don't do catch weights because they don't really account for anything. And I get that in terms of a division, if somebody misses weight, if they miss weight, then fair enough, you got to do a catch weight because you don't want to let the fans down. Don't want to let the promotion down. The fighters themselves want to continue so they agree another weight. But actually planning a catch weight, does it really do anything for either division? So I get that. But as a fan, I'd love to see it.

Yeah, I'd love to see it. Because there's a lot of questions. Can he stop the take down? Can Kamara take him down? How does Kamara fair just in a straight striking? There's a lot of questions which always make for really intriguing matchups.

12 and 0, 6 and 0 in the UFC. All stoppages apart from Gilbert Burns or Hamza Chimev, still going strong. Let's take a second to talk about Manta S leep, one of our sponsors. High level athletes and performers, they know quality sleep is the foundation for everything good that happens in life. That sounds like an exaggeration, but it is. I'm sleep deprived right now, still had a good show, could have been better if I had more sleep. Driven by that belief, Manta is on a mission to give light sleepers control and mastery over their sleep. With Manta S leep, you can maximize the enjoyment of life and unlock your full potential. The masks are 100 % blackout for deeper sleep. They're very comfortable, they're soft, they're breathable, and they're made of durable material, so you don't have to worry about it stretching out, losing shape, whatever. Check out also the brand new SoundMask, featuring razor thin Bluetooth headphones with a 20 hour battery life. And as always, Mante offers a 60 day risk free trial. 60 days risk free with free shipping. I mean, there's literally no risk whatsoever. So go to the website, manteS leep.

Com, see their full selection of sleep accessories, their body pillows, weighted blankets, sleep machines, everything that a light sleeper could need. Be sure to check out manteS leep. Com, use the promo code bisping, you will get a further 10 % off the perfect gift for yourself or that light sleeper that everybody knows. Manta, sleep better, anywhere, anytime. We were talking last week, obviously, everyone was talking about it. It was a big story. Tyson Feerey came out and he was fuming at Rogen talking shit to Rogen, you bold added little pussy. And then Jones came out and said, Oh, I touched the nerve there, did I? And then obviously they were talking about fighting each other. Well, Data came out and said, John Jones is the baddest man on the planet. There's no debate. There's no denying it. There's no debate. I don't care what anybody says. Everyone can try and spin it. A lot of this is click bait stuff, and you know how I am. But if Tyson Fuehrer really wants to fight John Jones in the UFC, I will make it happen. Here's my thing right now to Tyson Fuehrer. Tyson, if you're serious, let me know.

And I know we're rehashing a conversation from last week, but I'd like to see that.

Oh, yeah, I would love to watch that. It would just be amazing to see Tyson Ferry just make a walk to the UFC, to go. I don't even know how much he weighs. I don't even know how he... There's no way he's under 265, right? I don't think it matters.

But I saw a picture on Instagram this morning again, and there was a picture of Paul Tamperera, Alex Perera, stood next to Tyson Feur. Have you seen that picture?

Yeah, they look the same size.

It's crazy. 6'9, 6'4. How is this even possible? It's like camera angles. Tyson was standing further away and Alex was closer because he's not 6'9. But they did look a similar size.

They did. I was talking the other day and I was talking Dean Thomas. And Dean... Shouts out, Dean. Yeah, we were going back and forth because they were essentially arguing. I know we talked about this, but they're essentially arguing about two different things where Joe was saying if they were to be locked in a room together, that John Jones would be the one coming out of that room. And Tyson was like, Well, no one's going to beat me in the ring. Well, John doesn't disagree with that. In a boxing match, Tyson Feary absolutely wins. But I would bet every penny I have, my house, your house, Harrington's house, all of it, that if you lock those two guys in the room, John Jones is coming out of that room.

No one alive. Nobody alive can beat my son.

He is. And he's going to have everything in Tyson Fears' pockets with him.

No, 100 %. It's not even a question. It's not even up for debate.

In the UFC, that would be more interesting because at least they start on their feet and they re like, there is a little bit of questions at distance. Tyson moves a lot. I still think John Jones smokes him, but at least there's a little bit of parity there.

It would be one of the only fights of the magnitude that could somewhat rival in terms of interest and star power of the Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather match up. That was lightning in a bottle. Mcgregor was on top of the world. He was a promotional machine. That's why he is Conor McGregor. And it was Floyd Mayweather, 49 and 0 at the time. You know what I mean? Because obviously, John Jones is a massive star and he's the baddest man on the planet, if you will. He's not the pay per view monster that Conor is. But in terms of fan appeal for people that know, I'm not saying it would do those numbers, but it would be a success for sure. Let's just put it.

Like that. Yeah. You can tell Dana was serious about it, too, because he said, we can get you the number that you want. We got Floyd. There was something along those lines like, we were able to get Floyd a number that he was okay with. We can essentially say we got enough money to pay Floyd, we can afford you.

Hey, talking of Alex Perera, and I want to get your thoughts on this being a current line heavyweight. He's fighting Jan Blahovic. And Jan says that if he wins, in fact, I'll give you the quote, if I win my next fight, I will fight for the title. It's a bigger motivation for me. And thanks to Alex that he moved to our category, New Blood. I'd like to know my place. I'd like to know what place I am right now. It's very good for me after this fight. Next fight will be for the Dental. I'm just happy to take the belt of Poland again. What do you think about that? The winner of that fight gets a title shot. Being somebody that s pouring blood, sweat and tears into the division, how do you feel about that?

Yeah, I think it's deserved. As far as contenders go, it's wide open. I was right there in that position. I get a win over Johnny Walker and that's me, but I didn't. So it leaves the door, the door stays open. So Jan Blahovitz has always been right there or has been for a long time. Alex Perrera, people can say what they want, but he's got a little bit of star power. He's a former champion and he's moving up. If he gets a win over a contender like Jan Blahovitz, he deserves it. I think if Jan Blahovitz goes in and does what I suspect he will do, I think he'll have a breakout performance. I think he's going to look great doing it and then move on to a title shot, which is good for him and Jamal.

Yeah, but I was just going to bring up Jamal, obviously, you're close with Jamal. What are you hearing from Jamal? I see rumors online of him versus Jürgen Paresca. Do you still talk to Jamal?

Yeah. He wants the Prohasker fight, but he doesn't want to wait. So he'll fight anybody. He doesn't care. But I think he wants the Jürgen fight to solidify himself because right now he won the vacant title, never took it from Urie. So there's always going to be those people that say, Well, you didn't win it from the champion. I think that's what he wants. He doesn't really seem to care who he fights. He just wants to fight. And if Urie is not going to be ready, he'll fight somebody else.

Fair play. I mean, that is the attitude of a champion, as it should be. So fair play to him. And that fight between him and Urie, I would love to see that because that would be a spectacle. It would be.

When that.

Finally does happen. We got a few minutes before Joaquin Buckley joins us. It is early, though. It's early. I'm wondering what his timekeeping is like. Does he set alarms and stuff like that? He said to me yesterday, he said, Yeah, I'll do it. I said, Nice and early. He said, Yeah, no problem. You got to jump on a plane. But you, but, Harrington, are you alive? Are you well?

I'm alive? I am well.

Back away from the microphone.

You really spruced up in that little bit of time, the 40 minutes we've been on here. Look at you.

He's off to Hawaii. Where's the vacation? You got your sun tan motion?

It's amazing what a $15 old Navy shirt can do for a guy.

Yeah, because when we first jumped on, I'm sure Brian's woke up a little bit now as well. But I went and was looking a little bifuddled, a little perturbed. He had a look of panic in his eyes.

As soon as the camera came on, he was.

Like.

What?

It's not like you've got a newborn baby or anything like that? How about you, Hamilton? How's everything?

I'm great. The baby usually sleeps well enough that I'm not used to these pre noon hours.

Yeah, well, you know... It's rough. Well, Harry, give us a non MMT story before we get Joaquin Buckley on. We're not really going to have time to delve too deep into it. But a lot of Hamilton stories, you don't have to delve deep. They're a headline and we laughed at it.

I was going to say that one's the last time where you were delving deep? I don't want to hear anything.

Stop it. When's the last time we went, Wow. That's really really interesting.

There's a lot of meat on that bone.

Probably sometime in the last month, but there's no time because Joaquin Buckley just showed up.

Oh.

He's here. There we go.

New monster. Hey, what's up, brother?

How are you doing, man?

Good, man. What's the angle look like, man? What's better?

You're looking just a little bit more to the left or the right. You're slightly off center.

What, right there?

No, no, no, no, no, no. It's okay.

It's good enough.

Oh, no. I can see the card. There we go.

I was going to say, you can see it. I was.

Looking at this little box right here. You hear me? Boy, I had a struggling game. I'm struggling. I want that video in the back.

What do you want? What are you watching in the back? I see a video or TV in.

The box.

You still in Vegas, McKin?

Hell yeah.

How was last night? Did you enjoy the power swap? I saw you there.

Come on, man. They got my tip that on. You got the shit on. They got my shit on. I'm musty the motherfucker.

Musty as a motherfucker. I know. I just had a shower. I got in late last night. I drove home straight in bed and I woke up this morning. I said to my wife, I said, I'm sticky. Do you know what I mean? Because it was hot as hell in there last night. It was hot.

I'll be honest with you, I knew it'd be different, but I didn't think it'd be like that. I'm actually amazed at the actual production of the damn show and how everything was ran. Even with everybody like with my man, Joe Ecker, the referees, everybody would just lined up like this and just waiting for the next people to come out. Everything was in order, man. And power slap, bro. I really appreciate everything that they're doing for us.

It's crazy. Yeah. No, it's really well, sorry, Anthony.

So I get a lot of shit because I love the power slap. And people are like, I'm a Dana White homer. I'm just being a company guy. What do you truly think of it now that you watched it?

I mean, what.

I've been saying, bro.

The.

People that watch the highlights on Instagram or on TikTok, they don't really get it. And then a lot of people don't realize it's rounds. A lot of people think that people just come up, slap, boom, and the first person to get slapped. Come on now, that happened, too. But at the same time, they have moments where it's round after round, and these guys are just dishing it out to one another. And just to see the persistence in the nd to see the heart that a lot of these guys got. Because for me, I wouldn't have been there quick. There was one dude, his eye was already messed up. His eye was already swollen, damaged a little bit. And he was the first one to go up. He slapped buddy. I'm like, oh, shit. It's his turn now. It's his turn to get slapped. So I'm like, all right, he about to do him as hard as he could. Boom. And you could already see the eyes just swell immediately. Dude did that for three rounds.

It's crazy. I would never do that. I ain't.

Doing that. I think he won in my part, but it went to a draw.

That's right. I did. Yeah. I was just saying McKeen, obviously big fan of your career, massive win just recently over Andre Fiala, but we've never had a real proper conversation. You know what I'm saying? Who fault is it? Pardon me? No one's fault. Not saying it's anyone's fault.

You could have bad hollering at.

Me, man.

Bad talk to you, man.

But just tell us in the believers, that's the people that watch the show, that's what we call them. Just give us a little background on you. Where did you grow up? How was life? What how did you find your way into professional finance?

All that good stuff. Everybody know about that, man. Look, born and raised in Saint Louis, Missouri. Had just my mother, you know what I'm saying? Didn't have my father around for the longest time. But when I lost her, my grandmother go ahead and picked up those pieces, man, and went and raised me. But as I started to progress in age, man, and mature a little bit, I thought I could run things, you know what I'm saying? So my grandmother ended up calling for my dad back into my life and stuff like that. So at least I had my father around just to help raise me and help become a man in that nature. And he really helped with my fighting spirit. We used to watch a bunch of movies together and Blood and Bone was one of our favorite movies to watch. Michael Jai White, Kimbo Slices and stuff like that. And that right there sparked my whole vision of becoming a fighter. And years later, right after that, me graduating from high school and stuff like that. Man, I got put into mixed martial arts, man. I went into the MMA game when I was 18, bro.

I actually turned pro when I was 19, bro. And I never looked back since. That's pretty much it. That's the rap for my little story.

What was your You just went into a gym? Is that how it started? Yeah, pretty much.

Crazy enough, right? Me and Mike Johnson from St. Louis, of course, you all know this. We also went to the same high school. Obviously, not the same year, but he was on the ultimate fighter show with George St. Pierre and Josh Koshak back in the day. And my man was going to fight to become the ultimate fighter. I can't remember the dude that he lost to, but he ended up winning instead of Mike. But regardless of that fact, though, he ended up coming back to the high school and just showing us some love at the wrestling. And just like, Hey, guys, this is where I came from. This is where I'm at now. This is the guy to do the same thing. And I told him. I was like, Hey, bro, I want to be a fighter too. But you already know. I'm like a fucking kid. So he's just like, Oh, yeah, man, that sounds cool and all this stuff. But he gave me my first pair of MMA shorts. And I wore those same shorts in my first amateur fight. So me and Mike got history. It's unfortunate that he went to the same in team and stuff like that.

And that's the team that I want to hunt down right now. But regardless, it's always going to be love and respect for me no matter what, for Mike Johnson. Because he was that first person I seen that came from my neighbourhood, that came from St. Louis, actually get there. So he actually gave me the inspiration and the fire to get there myself.

Yeah, no, that's beautiful. Michael Johnson, what a legend he is. Were you an athlete, though, before that? Because you are one of the most creative strikers, but certainly one of the most explosive. I mean, we've all seen... What was his name? What was his name? The crazy knockout that you got for Impa Kusaguna.

He told my mom, my man, Impa Kusaguna. You have to respect my man because he in PFL right now. He had light heavyweight on my.

Mom, two or five. I mean, we've all seen that. But even just sat in last Saturday against Fiala, you tried a similar kick without the leg being caught. I remember you jumped up, you through one kick, you spun in the air, you through another one. And I was like, the power and the athleticism that you have is the thing to this point.

I did that with the Andres fight?

Yeah, you did. But you didn't catch it. You just spun in midair. And I was like.

This is the.

Fucking guy here.

Look at this. I don't remember doing any spinning shit, man. I was just locked in. And I'm just trying to tell people, don't do that. Don't think I'm doing anything set up, bro. I should be fighting, bro. I should be in there banging, bro. My mind just go somewhere else sometimes, bro. I ain't.

Going to lie to you. But did you play any other sports? You just always had that natural athleticism.

I was trapped. I was trapped. I was. Was trashed at every sport I did, bro. I was even a trashed ass wrestler, bro. It took me a good minute just to learn how to do a proper double A. And that was my best move. That's all I had, too. That's what I had. All I had was the double A. I still only got the double A to this day. Don't tell nobody. It out, then we already live. But regardless, though, it's just like, man, my biggest and my favorite thing was movies, man. And when you talk about that creativity, that's where it comes from. And I don't know about anybody else, but people think I'm lying and bullshit when I say, bro, I learned martial arts from movies, bro. And Donny Yen, the Tony Joss, the Jackie Chan, the Jet Lees, Bruce Lee, I can go on all day about these martial artists. But people don't realize, even though they're actors and they're doing theater work, they're still martial artists. And the moves that they show within these movies are real techniques. Now, it might not be the same type of sequence that you can actually pull off.

A 50 punch combination to a kick, to off the wall, none of that. But it's still like little subtle movements, you know what I mean? And the mentality that they have that I use in my actual fights.

I just got to jump in there, Antony, real quick because I worked with Tony Jarr and Donny Yen. Hey, man. They're awesome, man. They're awesome. But I was the same way. You know what I mean? Martial arts for me when I was a kid. I'm a little bit older, obviously. So John Clive Van Damme, that was my guy. And that inspired me.

So.

Much. I just watched Bloodsport with Lucas the other night and he loved it from start to finish. But I've got to ask you, if there's one film, what would it be? Blood and Bone? What would you say is the one that had the biggest impact on you.

As a young man? Definitely. Not Blood and Bone, actually, but the same actor, undisputed. Michael Jai White, undisputed two.

Boyka. Yeah, Scott Adkins.

Scott Adkins is a motherfucker, monster too.

He's a buddy of mine.

So that was my biggest inspiration right there, undisputed. I watched that movie since it's there. I watched it all the time.

So.

Something you said earlier peeked me a little bit. You said that you're just in there fighting and you're not like, because you didn't even remember doing the spinning shit. When I watched you from the beginning of your career, when I'm working the desk and I'm breaking you down, I would have said, he's just in there and just doing whatever feels right at the time. But now as your career is progressing, you seem like such a thinker in there because you make really good decisions and you seem very calculated and you explode when it's the right time and you back off when you need to and you start mixing in the wrestling and stuff, it's truly you don't feel like you're thinking... When I watch you fight now, this guy is really built himself into a really smart strategic fighter. Excuse me, but you say you're just out there just flowing and fighting. So it seems very different from what you say to watching it because I was watching your fight with Fiala. Goddamn, this guy's getting so smart. You're just in the right places all the time. At the beginning of your UFC career, you were just as dangerous because you just were in the flow state and exploding.

I don't know.

I'm listening. I appreciate it.

Just what you say seems.

Different to what I see. Because an intelligent Buckley is a very, very, very dangerous Buckley. So I rather see the goofy ball that don't think and that just goes out there. Because Andre Fiala said it best, I'm not the smartest fighter, and I hope that a lot of other fighters think that.

That's what it comes down to, though. How old are you, McKin?

29.

Getting older. 29. Dude, you're still a baby in this sport.

You've still got a long time. Don't do it now. Lil Mike, don't start now.

This is what I wanted. I remember I came and spoke to you one time. You were like, Don't blame me. Don't blame me. And you looked down at my shoes and you were talking shit.

About my shoes. And I'm so mad because obviously you didn't have those type of shoes on. And I had another little lineup for your ass, boy, but you didn't get the bait. You didn't get the bait. Take the bait.

Oh, God. Is that with those alligator boots? Alligator skis?

I went to you and said, What alligator boots? And I'm like, You're going to believe me on your blind eyes. And then right when I was like, A habitual liar, and I was like, I was ready to get.

You, brother. You might not think about what you want to do in the fight, but you're thinking about how you're going to fucking mock me in the interview.

You got to stay ready. Hey, you got to stay ready so you got to get ready.

No, 100 %. Hey, look, listen, our producer just said we haven't got too long left before you got to get out.

Of it. It's all good, man.

Short time is all good. Yeah. You know what I thought was, and I hate to bring this up, but this was so refreshing. You moved out to Welterweight, and in the fight and meetings and in the interviews last week, or a couple of weeks ago now, you were asked about it, your decision to move down. And you were brutally honest. You just said, I'm sick of getting knocked out. And I thought that takes some real courage and bravery and brutal honesty, you know what I mean? Rather than say, Oh, I'm too small for the division or whatever. I never had to cut weight. You're like, No, that's the fucking reason. I'm sick of getting clipped. I really respected that.

No, that's honest. Because if I was still being successful at 185, I would have stayed there regardless of my size and not. So that wouldn't have been the excuse. The main reason why I moved down is because of that. We got to stay safe, bro. I want to be able to have longevity. F fighting, I want to be able to do what you're doing in the future. To be able to speak to other fighters, speak to other people normal and not like rumble my words. And you got to be thinking about the simplest conversation, because I lost too many goddamn brain cells. So we just got to be smart with this game, man. It's the most dangerous business of them all. Of them all. No disrespect to football and all that, but they get breaks in between. It's all season round. I'm fighting all the time when it comes to training and sparring and stuff like that. We always got to condition the body as much as possible. So if I can limit that damage, bro, as much as possible, I'm going to do that.

When I was in Paris and I was watching you fight, it was one of the things that stood out to me. It wasn't even he's not good enough to win this fight. You could win all the exchanges and then one exchange would change the way that that went. It seemed very much like a size thing. It wasn't a skill discrepancy. It wasn't that you weren't the better guy in there. It's just he was so damn big. It was just hard to deal with.

Now.

That you got a fresh coat of paint, it's essentially a 170, what do you have your eyes on? Who really sparks your interest at that weight class?

I got a lot of people that do, for real. Be honest with you, for me personally, I fight anybody at 170. We didn't all say this. We didn't say that. We didn't fight anybody. But who I really want, you know what I'm saying? I want a team of guys. So I don't want to just pick individual. I want to pick a team and then like Dominic Cruz, build my motherfucking name off that team.

You want your own Michael Phelps?

And be honest with you, I'm calling selling out the right team because they dangerous, they lethal. So me calling them out, I'm dead ass about it. But you all got to see that I really want the potential to build my experiences with these guys. I think they got holes in their game, but I know they're good too, though, because the potential, these guys from this team could potentially knock me out, embarrass me, talk that shit. But I don't care about that.

I've been there before. Who are you talking about?

Killc liff. You know? You all are all going to be reporters, boy.

You all are supposed to know what's going on in this. I am no goddamn reporter.

I was just waiting for him to say it. The sound bite sounds better when he says it versus me saying it.

Yeah, but, bro, you're like, don't allude too many brain cells. You're talking to that guy. I spoke to you in the octagon, and I'm like, I know you called someone out, but I, for the love of God, I cannot remember.

I didn't call the person, I called the whole team. So that whole team is what? But Sente Luke, Ian Gary, Sean Cod, Romanoff, Kevin Lee now, and then Gilbert Burns on top. So I want all those guys, period.

Ian Gary, that's a match up there.

That's a fun one. It's not on some disrespectful shit. It's just business. And plus they got all the one set me, motherfuckers. These are the hitters. These are the dudes that are supposed to be the scary boogeyman. Definitely Ian Gary and Sean Cod. They undefeated. They ain't never tasted defeat before. You hear me?

If.

You're so confident in your abilities, I should be easy work. I'm a.

Done fighter.

You and E, Gary, man. I ain't got no I'm easy work. And plus I'm a good name, too. I beat the dude with the craziest highlight knockout. That's good money.

I love that Ian Gary fight. I just keep thinking Ian Gary. That's the fight. Yeah, Boston.

My mama, Boston. Come on now.

Because I'm with the respect and I love it.

Me and Gary in Boston, bro.

You two are the cockiest motherfuckers right now. And I mean that in a good way. I mean that in a good way. I mean that in a way of self advice. You got to be that way.100 %, I was the same way. You got to believe in yourself. You got to self promote yourself. You got to call people out. And you two would spark such a massive amount of interest and build that fight. I mean, as I say, take my money already. You got to get out of it.

He ain't going to talk that shit, too. That's why I like about it. He's going.

To talk that shit.

Like I said, man, these guys, unfortunately, they never taste defeat. And the thing about that is they come in with a false confidence like they can't lose. We all can lose. We all noticed. Any man on any given day can lose, you understand? Unless you're John Jones, I guess. But, hey, you had the shot.

I don't know why we got to bring that up. You had the.

Shot, man. You got to defend.

The one.

Hey, Ruky, do you know Mohamed McKiv, the Fly away fighter? He's undefeated as well. Do you know who that is?

Yeah, McKiv? He fought my boy.

Yeah. Jump on his backstage. He's waiting to jump on. What's up, brother? How are we doing? Say hi to Joaquin Buckley. Man, I.

Don't want to take you out of time, man. Go ahead, man. Talk to your boy McKay here, man. Hey, man. Hey, thanks, baby.

Joaquin, thanks for joining us, man. Really appreciate your time. I know it's early. I know you got a lot of stuff going on. Congrats on everything. Look forward to the next one and all the best, brother.

On the game, man.

Take care, man.

There it is. I can't pull off that coolness on the game, man. I say that. I don't even know what that means, but it sounds cool as hell coming out of here. He is cool.

He is cool.

He's cool. One cool guy to another one. Mohamed Maka'iv. What's up, brother?

Hello. I'm good. How are you? I'm like, Can you hear me good?

We hear you loud and clear. You're coming out as like a goddamn professional. That's what you are.

I have headphones like Demetrius Johnson.

I like it. Yeah, you're sounding good, brother. We've talked about doing this for a while, so thank you for finally making it happen. I know you're busy and I was busy. We talked about doing it through Ramadan and things like that, so the times didn't work out. I want to start with this. Obviously, you're doing huge things. The reputation that you had before coming to the UFC, from Adam and nick Pete, who I work with on BT Sport, they would just go on about you. How great is Mohamed Mika'iv is? Obviously, I'm out of the state, so I don't see a lot of the regional stuff. But you've lived up to the hype and you've come in just like Joaquin Buckley, believing in yourself, talking a big game, but backing it up every single step of the way. Congrats on everything, man.

Thank you, Michael. I actually have prepared tickets here. First time I came to watch MMA in my life, it was the UFC fight in London. You fought against Anderson Silver. It says here 27 February 2016. I still got as a memory of my first ever event.

It.

Was the first event in London.

You've got the ticket, I've got the scars.

This was my first time I ever watched big event. First time in UFC, my close friend R ustam Khabilov fought on the event against Norman Park. I came to support him. Since then, I have crazy motivation to become champion.

What was it like coming into the UFC? For example, when I came into the UFC, I was a bottom feeder. No one was afraid of me. No one knew who I was. No one cared about me. It was a it was almost nicer that I could slowly work my way up. There wasn't all the eyes on me. There wasn't a lot of expectations. But when you came in, everyone knew who you were. The whole division was already on stand by when you came in right away. Did you have any issues dealing with that pressure or dealing with those expectations when you first came in?

I'm on 34 fight winning teams, so every fight I get pressure. But how I handle the pressure, like in the sparring, somebody can beat me, take rounds of me, but in the fight I'm different. I'm really even like my coach is more relaxed in the fight night than actually in the gym when I fight or sparring. I built all this experience from my amateur career. I have most fights in amateur. I mean, some people never back in the days, some fights didn't count like they do now. But I have on a high level amateur, you fight every day against number ones from each country and you fight next day. Even if you're injured, you carry on. I've got this all experience. It's not like just some hype jump on my shoulders. For example, Raul Jr. There's a youngest UFC fighter on the roster right now. I feel what he feels like. How does it feel right now? It's a lot of pressure for him. I don't know why UFC did that for him. Put him on the main card. It's good thing they did that. But it's a lot of pressure for the young kid.

It's a lot. It's a kid had three amateur fights. Imagine if you put three amateur against 23 free fights. Big difference.

I tell young fighters all the time, take as many amateur bouts as you can because that's where you can make the mistakes and it's forgotten about. As soon as you sign pro and I get it, you want to start making money, you want to be a name, you want to get some fame, you want to get attention. But you make those mistakes when you're professional and it really, really affects your career. Obviously, you're a Daghestani, but you find out a Wigan, aren't you? Wigan is just down the street from where I am from. Half an hour down the M 6, I'm in Wigan. It's a place known for eating pies. Tell me about your story, how you ended up from Daghestan to Wigan.

Yeah. This question I get asked all the time, why it's not London or Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, it's Wigan. But I've been sent... When you're coming to the country as a home office don't ask you where do you want to live, where you want to stay, they just send you and you have no choice. Either you go back or you accept whatever you get given. So I accepted. I started at Wigan New Zone. It's like a youth center built by Dave Wieland. He was Wigan Athletic owner. So he built that for like... There's a football, wrestling, boxing. So I used to do wrestling and boxing together, back to back sessions. And then they sent me to the actual wrestling club.

And Anthony as well, just to give you some context, it worked out perfectly, Mohamed, because Anthony will know this and a lot of Americans will know this. But in England, there's not a massive wrestling scene. But in Wigan, it's known for its wrestling. So you ended up, it was almost fate that you ended up there because there's a rich heritage of catch wrestling from Wigan. So you ended up in the perfect place. And speaking of wrestling, just tell Anthony and the listeners that story of you were in... Where was it? Not Bulgaria.

Where was Where was it? It was Romania.

Romania. Romania. And my son was there on a wrestling trip as well. Mohamed was with my son. He told me the fight meetings in London what he did. Tell us the story again because it's hilarious.

I actually have a video. Basically, we came to do a weight cut before the tournament. I actually was fighting three weeks later in professional. It was fight before the UFC. I was competing in Romania three weeks before my professional fight. We were weight cutting and I hid in his shoe. He's like looking.

For it. They did my son's shoes?

Yeah. And he's looking for his shoe. And then I keep telling him, Don't worry, there's a shop across the road. You can go and buy it. And my coach, he understood what I'm doing. So he said, I was in that shop yesterday. There's only like size six and 7, but he's like 11, right? 10, 11 something. So he was like getting angry.

My son's losing his shit because he's stressing out. He's flown to Romania for a wrestling tournament and he can't find his wrestling shoes, which is something he would do. But Mohamed's laughing his head off because he's fucking heading it. Oh, dear.

I like to bring the atmosphere down because some lads are worried about competition. I like to make fun in the team. I never worried because it's a sport. You have to be relaxed. The more relaxed, the more dangerous you are, I think.

Anthony, did you see his last fight with the knee bar?

I did. I'm glad that you're on here and people can get a better understanding of your personality because obviously we've never talked before, I've never met you. When I watched you, you always seemed so serious. This guy is super intense. He's very serious. Then you come on here and you're like... I'm a very little kid. You're like fun and playful and cracking jokes. That's good. You should let people see that more often.

In the fight, I'm horrible. First time I ever shake my hand against Jaffel Philho in the wings, I usually go to the face, his hotel, wherever I see them, I bully them basically. I'm not bullying person that cannot fight back. I'm bullying my competitor.

You have to put yourself in that mentality.

That's it. But actually, against Jafel Fulho, I thought he's a Brazilian, he's actually a priest. He had Bible in his hand before he walked out to the Wayans. I was looking at the front, I asked my friend who walked out of me for the Wayans, I said, What's this? He said, Bible. In my head, I don't want to push him in the way. I don't want to act horrible because maybe he... But they didn't let him out, take out Bible to the way. But I calm down. Listen, this kid has good heart. If he believes, we all believe in God. I just shake his hand and I was happy with it.

Is that the fight where you got caught in the knee bar? That was last summer. Was it summer or March?

No, it was this March.

This time it was March. I've been hitting the head too many times. That knee bar, for anyone that hasn't seen it, it was the end of the fight. You were doing fantastic. He catches you in the knee bar and the fight ends and he is pulled in on that knee. And it looked like I was backwards. It was bending backwards. And I'm like, Oh, my God. He's done. He's caught. But you never tapped. And then you got up and you were limping all over the place. Talk to me about that experience, the pain, not tapping. How's the leg? Yeah, talk us through it.

In the amateur scene, I have been in this position for the Amber, actually. And after the Amber, I felt like, listen, I would never tap because I felt so good after I didn't tap in amateurs. I'm at a high level at the World Championships, not like some regional interc lubs or something like this. I mean, at the World Championships, it was something different. The IMF. The IMF here, that's it.

And then I joined the last federation.

That's right. So after that, I felt so good. I'm happy I didn't tap. Then I become two time world champion. And similar situation in London. In my head, there was 45 seconds of this position. I think 51 seconds, I felt like the longest time ever in my life.

Look at his leg. Look at that.

I.

Was worried right now.

I was worried because that's a possible career ending injury. You know what I mean? Sometimes you'll never be the same. So how was the leg afterwards?

To be honest, after the fight, a lot of people, he never be back game again. But those people actually motivates me. This people motivates me. Even next fight will see me hungrier than my last three fights. For debut, I was really motivated. For my second, third fight, I was like, I can't beat these guys. I want to aim for top 10 guys. Then I'd be motivated again. But now I'm going to come back even more motivated because three doctors declined to do rehab with me. They said, Only operation you can do. But I've done my rehab with football team and athletics. Now I start running. I start doing everything. I believe I will fight either July this year or either August in Boston. July, London or August, Boston.

Nice. When I fought Glover Toshiro and he beat the absolute shit out of me and I was able to stay in that fight even after I was already done after a while, I had a similar mindset too, as you will not tap. Now that I've seen how far I can go and how much I can endure, then you almost feel proud of it, which I don't know how smart that is sometimes, but I was proud of my ability to push through the fire. Now I'm just really curious, what do you do when you're not fighting or wrestling or training? In my mind, I feel like you just wake up, train all day long and then just go to sleep. But what do you do in your free time?

I'm like this. I've been swimming all the rehab. I've done a lot of For example, for my last fight, I came with this shoulder injury. So for my last fight, I couldn't do anything, upper body, no pull ups, nothing. And now I'm opposite. So I was doing all the legs stuff before the fight. And then after the fight, I'm doing all the upper body. So I still work. I have a kid, seven months, and I never drunk in my life. I don't party, never been in a club. I live lifestyle, just camp to the camp and staying focused because I believe I want to have short career, but good career.

So you've never been to a club. We got to fix that, bro. I'm taking you down the dark path. Do you know what I loved when I talked to you? Because obviously we can all hear the Daghestani accent, but Anthony probably won't pick up on it. But I can hear the Northwest when you say month. You know what I mean? I can hear the little influence of the Northwest of England in the way you talk. Talk to me about... I mean, how old were you when you came out to Wigan? You were just very young, right?

12 years old.

12 years old. That's a really impressionable time to move. I've never been to Daghestan. I have an image of what it might be like. But you leave Daghestan at 12 years old and all of a sudden you're living in Wigan. That must have been a massive culture shock.

Yeah, it is. To be honest, for example, somebody swear or somebody joke, different type of jokes. I have to fight in a school for not understanding the British jokes. Remember when I met you first time, Michael, I said, if I would meet you in school, I would fight you probably because...

That's fine.

But now I understand that's why...

Yeah, but as soon as I met you and you started with that shit, it was abusing me, Anthony, in the fight and meetings. And then he was telling me stories about winding my son up. I was like, I like this guy. I like this guy a lot. But you're right. Because in the state, when I first came over on the ultimate fighter, there is a difference in the sense of humours. You know what I mean? I was a bit of a dickhead as well back then. I've grown and I've matured as a person. But also, a lot of the time, I was only having a laugh. But different cultures, they don't understand. We take them a piss hard in England. It's almost like a way, it's almost like a way... It's almost like a sign of affection, you know what I mean? But if you're not used to that, you're going to be like, Whoa, what the fuck? Why are you giving me this shit? And it's like, I'm not serious. We're just having a laugh. We're busting balls. Is that what you're talking about?

Yes, that's right. Joke about the parents and stuff. In Pakistan, for example, joke about parents who get killed for that. For example, for example. Jesus. It's serious. But here, not getting killed, but here should people take it? Because parents is your close people closer than your friends. That's how I believe. Because parents will be with you in a hard time, whereas friends in and out sometimes. That's why I didn't understand. I had to fight. Teachers give me a lot of chances. Every time I am like 10 and up, probably in school.

What were you doing? Were you double legging people in school, picking them up, slamming them on the head, or were you using the fist?

No, until now, I still don't use my fist. I hold. It's a boring way.

So you're d aggy standing, handcuffing people in the the playground.

Yes, because what I knew is a lot of CCTVs in school and stuff, and I didn't want to do that much because home office, I'm under the watch of the home office. If I carry on, home office is like a government, you probably know, right? Yeah. If I do something bad, they probably deport me or do something, never give me a passport in my life. I just did everything so they have no proof of my beatings.

Did you wrestle in Pakistan before you ended up.

In Wigan? No, actually I actually started here. I went a couple of times in Pakistan, but it's so much competition there that it's not like competition like I'm scared of challenge. It's just I never were being picked for the competition because I didn't have connection, didn't have money. My parents weren't rich. But the more connection you have, then you're getting selected for some tournaments. But I went to Karateh there. I was going to Karateh because in Pakistan, people don't go to Karateh. Some people go, but it's more competition. So I went to like, D agestan Championships, got like third place, second place.

Nice. I was just looking on Twitter there because I put a tweet out earlier asking for questions. And somebody said, Would you ever consider playing... Hold on, where was the exact question here? Hold on. Would McKive try and get anyone else watching rugby league, more specifically Wigan Warriors? Are you a rugby fan?

I actually went to watch rugby. I go to Wigan Warriors matches, watch them. Actually, after my fight, I went to watch Wigan versus Salford Devils.

Right. Is there an opponent that you've got in mind for your next fight? Because you've been calling.

Everybody out. Michael, so hard for me. Very, very hard at the moment. When I wasn't ranked a bit, Cody Durden in on the 50 seconds. And after that, I beat LFA Champion Charles Johnson, Malcolm Gordon, Jaffel Phil Ho, who came out of Contender Series. And these guys older than me, like 10 years. And now I'm ranked number 12 and people don't want to fight me, ranked guys. And now ranked guys saying, Go have one more fight. And then if I beat somebody else, they're going to say, You're still fighting on ranked guys. So I don't know. Manel Capo, for example, he don't accept fight against me. He's ranked number nine. He's free in 2 in UFC, but he said, You know my level. I'm like, what can I do if these guys don't want to fight me? How can I not be his level if he lost to all ranked guys?

I see that you're in a weird spot where people don't want to lose their place. You need to climb up. But if you fight down, then the people above you are going to say that you're not earning an opportunity, but then when you... You're in a really, really tough spot right now.

Very difficult. I think even I messaged, not direct message to him, I said rather...

You're DMing people?

Yes, I actually messaged them.

I actually spoke to him and said, Let's fight in August. He countered. He said, It's 10 weeks after my fight in June. So if he not get injured, he fight me. That's what he said. But let's say after the fight, team Elliott also team Elliott said that same awesome message, team Elliott direct message. Because now I call them out, they find some stupid excuses to reply, but when you DM them, they talk different.

Did you get in some dust up with Brandon Roive l on Twitter not that long ago?

Yes. Brandon Roive l also say, you know my level. But Charles Johnson actually went split decision against him. I scored most take downs in UCF flyweight history against Charles Johnson. It was 11, not 12 take downs and I think 26 attempts. But Charles Johnson did eight take downs on Brendan Rovel. So I believe I beat these guys, but they find some stupid excuse. If I'm that easy, if my cardio bite, my J jutsu, but why not come and take 34, fight winning streak, hype away.

Listen, we've got Matt Brown joining us shortly, but I want to ask you this quickly. Obviously, Daghestan is very well represented now in the UFC. Obviously, we all know about the legendary Habib Demagor Medov, but there's a lot of you guys now rep in Daghestan. But you, because you went to England, you've got such a perfect command of the English language and we see the sense of humour and all the rest of it. And I really think that helps you. And I don't mean any disrespect to any of your brothers from Daghestan. I don't mean that at all. But I'm sure you guys all have great sense of humour and all the rest of it. And Khabib's had some amazing one liners. You know what I mean? But do you feel like you can really put your personality across more because obviously you're so fluent in English?

I believe so. That's why I think I will be a quicker champion, for example, than Khabib or Islamahatchem. That took a long time, maybe 10 fights. I believe maybe I'm two, three fights away from the title.

Well, we can't wait for it.

Last question, sorry. I hope this isn't a disrespectful question. Do you feel like you represent Daghestan more or England?

It's Daghestan, it's part of Russia. I represent like Daghestan people, but I represent as a country, UK, because I came here as a 12 years old with nothing, pair of jeans and T shirt and they gave me everything.

We're claiming him. He's ours.

We're taking him. I don't even know if that's disrespectful to ask it that way. But you're always people have always spoken about you as this D agestani wrestler that's just an absolute monster. But you're living and been in the UK for a long time. That's where your combat sports career really started. So I was just curious how you looked at it.

They look after me really good. You know Brendan Logner, Michael, right?

Of course.

I love that guy.

He's the guy like Dean Garnett. These two English guys who look after me when I was a kid. Now we're on the same level, everyone.

Yeah, that's beautiful. That's beautiful. Listen, Mohamed, thanks, man. I really appreciate you joining us. Thanks for your time. I appreciate it. And we will see you soon, brother.

See you soon. All the best, guys.

Take it easy, buddy. Take it easy. There he is. Two guests back to back. Double booking.

I like him.

I'm telling you, as I said, when we were doing fight and meetings and he walked in and he just had this spark about him and he lit up the room. He really did. You know what I mean? He was talking a little bit of shit. He was making fun of my son. Obviously, very accomplished at what he does. But then with the personality and the sense of humour that he has and he's taking the piss and he's getting into beef with everyone on Twitter and all the rest of it, I'm a fan of.

That guy. Yeah, he's funny, too. He's really funny. I was probably like 10 and 0 in school.

Yeah, I know. I know. Ten and 0 in school. Brilliant. Oh, my God. Ducky's sat in the hangar with the kids on the playground. They're all playing football. They're like, What's this guy doing? He's taking us down. All right, Harrington, how are you Wai E. Harrington? Jump on, jump on Hawaii.

What's up, boys? All right, so the story I was going to do...

That's loud in my ear. Is it loud in your ear or is it just me?

Yeah, it's loud.

Sorry about that. I'll back up. I'm backing away from the screen like it's going to make it better.

Yeah, we've got headphones in. What's going on, Harrington?

So a California man who was expected to be under the influence, he crashed his car into a house, then came back to his own house, broke in and took a pickaxe to his roommate's door trying to get into his room. This is absolutely absurd and something I think you guys would want to see you guys reaction.

On this. Do we have a video?

Go back to the go back to the front because you can see him.

Yeah, he breaks down the door. This is his own house?

Yeah.

Why would he break?

Why does he got an axe?

Because he wants it.

In a knife.

He's got a knife. He's made his room.

Oh, my God.

Oh, my gosh. This is terrifying. That's definitely not the mail man.

Yeah, he's having a bad day. Stressing out to the max. He's not very good with the pickaxe though. Well, he's got to be. He's just driven into his neighbor's house and he's like, It's my roommate's fault.

He's going to just hit that thing right in his shins.

Oh.

God.

Oh, God.

Oh, dear. What happens when he gets in the room, Harrington?

Yeah, what happened? He gets in, that's for sure. We've seen that part. Oh, my God. Look at the car as well.

Yeah, that's the car crash into the house. No word yet on what exactly happened. Did you hear anybody? That part of the story hasn't been revealed yet. It's just that that footage that came out. But Matt Brown has joined us. So I'll look that up when you guys talk to Matt.

Back to back to back to back. What's up, Matt Brown? How are you, brother?

Yeah, what's up, fellas?

How are we doing? Thanks for joining us, man. Really appreciate your time. I know you're a busy man. You got the kids, you got the successful career, you got the most knockouts in UFC history. Life must be Good Right Now for Mr. Matt Brown.

Yes, life is busy and good, man. Kids are doing well, so yeah.

Well, what have you been doing since the fight? You doing anything fun? You go anywhere?

Man, you guys know how it is. When you're in fight camp, everything gets pushed to the side. And the day you get back, you get hit up by everyone like, Hey, man, you said you'd hit me up after the fight, or, we got to do this. We got to take care of this. I own three different businesses, man. So it's all been work ever since, bro. But we're going to go chill probably next week.

There you go.

What are the businesses, Matt?

Well, I own my gym, the Immortal Martial Arts Center, and I own two R&Bs. I consider those a business. Yeah, for sure. And then the coffee business, theimmoralcoffee. Com.

Same with you. The Immortal Coffee. Is it good?

You didn't know about the coffee yet?

I didn't know about the coffee.

I'm looking for a good coffee brand, I swear to God. Because every time I try some coffee, I don't like it. I get a metallic taste in my mouth. The Immortal Coffee, that's the one.

Yes, we'll send you out some, brother. Send me your address, shipping address when we're off here and we'll send you as much as you want.

There we go. So, Matt, listen, ever since you came on the scene, even on the ultimate fighter, you're so intense. You know what I mean? I always enjoyed that. I'm like, this guy is fucking hardcore. Now you've got the most knockouts in UFC history. You've got a crazy story. What a journey you've been on.

Yeah, thanks, man. First, I'm tied with the most knockouts.

Well, yeah, but it sounds sexier.

Yeah, it sounds better. But I try to keep it real, man. A lot of people, they expect that out of me to be this ultra intense guy and stuff because I come across that way. But it's not as much intense as his focus, man. I just keep my eyes on the prize, man. I love what I do, but I take it very serious, man.

Have you always been like that? Just hyper focused?

No, I haven't, to be honest, because I never had anything that I cared to focus on.

Sorry, go on.

No, I'm fine. With my kids, I'm that way. That's something I've always put a lot of emphasis on is just being very in the moment, wherever I'm at, man. Everybody talks about having a balance or whatever. I don't have a balance. Whatever I'm doing, that's what I'm doing 100 %. When I'm with my kids, I give them every fucking thing I got, man. When I'm in the gym, I give it every fucking thing I got. And that's everywhere I go. And that's everything I do.

How many kids, man?

Three kids, twin, 12 year old boys and a seven year old daughter. It's crazier than both of them.

Yeah, I can imagine that. You know when I actually told this story on the podcast, I think last week we were sitting on the bus and I've always had just crazy respect for you. I think partially because of maybe your intensity a little bit, I've always just thought, like, Matt Brown isn't afraid of shit. He doesn't get nervous. He just walks in there like a G. Does his shit in his leaves and it's like no big deal. But I just got the courage to ask him on the bus, you still get nervous doing this shit? And it was so refreshing. Like you said, what did you say? When I'm done being nervous is when I'll be done fighting. And I thought that stuck with me. And I came on here in the podcast and talked about it. But is that what keeps you around? It's like that nervous... I don't like calling it adrenaline because I don't think that I'm an adrenaline junky. But just that feeling alive nervousness, is that what keeps you around at this point?

That's certainly an aspect of it. And you know what I really meant by that? Maybe I didn't go all the way with it. A lot of people, the last questions, I think you would understand that they're like, Dude, you're afraid of getting hurt or getting up or something? And it's like, No, bro, I don't care if I get hurt. The reason that we get nervous is because we care. So what I meant by that is when I stop getting nervous, that's why I would stop because that means I don't care anymore. I'm not nervous about getting hurt or I'm not even nervous about losing and all those things. I'm nervous about looking poorly and not performing to my own expectations that I have in my own head. That's what I care about. Or when my kids be in there and stuff, obviously you care about that. But that's the whole point. I did a Jutsu competition a couple of years ago after my ACL injury. I just wanted to go and just do a competition just to feel it out. And I got nervous as hell. Because, again, you fucking care, man. That's all it is.

That's all the nerves are. We put this so much time, energy, work, dedication into this single moment. Whether it's 12 weeks, 16 weeks, or you could count all 20 years, whatever.

And.

That's it. And that's the Matt Brown interview. We lost for a second.

I got a call and I.

Deleted it.

No worries. No worries.

You've been in the UFC since 2008. Tied for the most knockouts, probably for all.

Over the world. That's crazy. I turned pro in 2008. That's insane.

42 years old. You mentioned an ACL injury there. How does the body feel, Matt, with respect at 42 years old? You're clearly still competing at a high level. But compared to when you first started to now, how are those days, mid training camp, when you're getting out of bed, you're having your morning coffee, you're having the the Immortal Coffee. Com, how's the body feeling, mid camp?

It certainly don't feel like it used to, that's for sure. But I'm good at taking care of myself, man. I have good traded partners. And that's the whole key, is I adapt my training to my body rather than my body to the training. And that's is a big difference of how I trained when I was young. But there's no way I could train the way I did when I was young. I used to do three, four training sessions a day, and it was just like one thing after the other. So I just train a lot different now, man. I have a lot of injuries, things I'm dealing with all the time. I'm sick of calling the doctor for cortisone shots. This is just regular stuff that we all deal with. But at the same time, I got spared yesterday for the first time since the fight, just helping one of my guys who's fighting in June in LFA. He me up a little bit. He kicked me, my legs a little bit, kicked my body. I woke up this morning in a little bit of pain and I was like, Dude, it put a smile on my face.

I was like, This is so much better than the past couple of weeks that I've been sitting around fucking getting fat and being a slob or whatever we do.

We talked about the training stuff a little bit too, and about how you don't really like helping or training fighters unless you're... Maybe you're not even really don't like training fighters, but you really enjoy teaching the kids. Yes. And I don't know about you, Michael, but I am the absolute worst coach. The absolute worst coach is I'm just not good at it. But I love teaching the little kids. As soon as you fought, you were right back in the gym, coaching the kids.

Yeah, I was back in on Monday.

Do they think you're just the coolest goddamn fucking guy in the world?

I just woke up and I was bored and I was like... I had tons of things to do, but it's like, Fuck everybody, I'm going to go to the gym and train. But what I said was that I like training my friends. I don't like training people as a business. I don't like coaching people in a business transaction where you're going to give me this and I'm going to give you this.

People that you care about.

Yeah, man, you have to care about them, right? And it becomes a business transaction. But then things get murky and things get complicated. And I don't like fucking dealing with that shit, man. I don't like this business. I don't like the business of fighting. I don't like the business of coaching guys and training. But if my friend, someone that I like is fighting, I'll give them everything I got.

You talk about caring now and people that you care about. I know Mark Coleman is someone that's had a big influence in your life. And what an inspirational guy that is. I love watching his journey right now on Instagram. He's so open, sober is cool, and hammerhouse for life. Talk to me about that relationship and the impact that he's had on you.

Coleman is a man, bro. He brings the energy to the gym every day. It's just unbelievable. And you're just not going to get anywhere else. Sometimes it's a little out there, sometimes it's a little different. Sometimes he's trying to fit a square into a circle. But he's just an amazing guy. And people don't understand how far down he was. Only those of us that were close to him. He was close to death, legitimately. And so seeing that transformation has just been inspiring to all of us.

Sorry, Antony, I just want to piggyback on that. I remember when he fought Shogun, I think it was in Dublin. Was it Dublin or Belfast? Somewhere like that. It was in Ireland. Yeah, Dublin. And we were talking afterwards at the bar for quite some time, and he went into it and how dire things had got, you know what I mean? Because this road, this path that we're all on or been on for me, it is hard to hard. People always ask me, do I want my children to do it? And I'm always like, I don't think so. If they want to do it, I'll support them, you know what I mean? But it wouldn't be my first choice. And Mark Coleman, there you go. He's the godfather of grand and pound. He's an absolute legend. I think he was the first UFC heavyweight champ or whatever his accolade was. I apologise. He was, yeah. I doubt myself for a second there. And to see a guy that was such a mainstay of mixed martial arts and of course, over in Pride as well. And then to hear his stories stories when we were talking, it had such a huge impact on me.

He said, I've come here tonight, Michael. He said, I've had this fight. I had no training camp. I had no money whatsoever. He said, Now, I got a bonus from Dana. I've got some money in my pocket. He said, I can finally have a training camp for my next fight. And this was 2008, I think it was, something like that, around that anyway, maybe 2009. And that had such an impact on me. It made me realise, it's fucking hell, man, this is a crazy business that we take part in. We sacrifice so much. And it could just spit you up and spit you out on the other end. It's such a fucking bitch at times.

That's exactly it, man. That's exactly why I own my gym. I have these Airbnbs and stuff. I'm trying to set up for a post fight, man. You said it perfectly, right? This shit could just chew you up and spit you out. And how many people does that happen to? When we put this much into the all of our energy, everything we got, all of our hopes and dreams into one single thing. Whether you achieve it or not, it's almost irrelevant because when it's over, it's over, man. Some people walk away with some money like, you know what, five people fucking Connor and Ronda and a couple of others. And the rest of us walk away with... That's why a lot of people talk when they say retirement, they're like, When are you going to retire? I'm like, Well, I'm probably not really going to retire. I might have to switch jobs because I'm not able to make money fighting anymore. But I don't know. I'm not going to be tired until I'm 60, I guess.

But that's the fight in life, though, isn't it? You know what I mean? Regardless of whatever... Sorry, Antony, I'm hogging the question. You're fine. You're fine. Because I remember I mean, you see boxers, you see them now working as clean as in the gym and stuff like that because it's such a hard path. When I started doing this, I went from being flat broke to having a few bucks in the bank and I'm like, shit, it. I don't want to be one of those guys. And that always fueled me and that's why I stuck around too long. That's why I've got two knee replacements, one fucking eye, and all the rest. Because it's a hard road but it is also a fulfilling road as well.

You know what I mean?

Yes. And I think that's what it's all about, man. And that's why I love teaching the kids. That's what gives me the fulfillment. And that's what the next phase of my life will be about is giving back rather than taking, which is a lot of what you're doing as a professional athlete and fighter. I don't necessarily consider it a selfish sport, which we can talk about that differently, but it is a lot more taking than it is giving. So my future is going to entail all giving. That's what I want to do, man. Just give everything back. And who gives a fuck if I get rich doing it? You're going to be fulfilled. And when you go to bed at night or when you're on your deathbed, honestly, when you're on your deathbed, however many years from now, whatever you get save is what's going to matter. What you took isn't going to mean shit to you anymore. You can't take those belts or the records and everything to the grave. But what you give is going to last.

My.

Opinion?

No, dude, I totally agree.

You perfectly said.

None of the other shit matters when it's all said and done. Sorry, Anthony. Go ahead. No, it.

Doesn't at all.

I totally agree.

Well, we could all sit around, and I think we've all been around long enough. You can sit around and see just this sport chewing up. We could just name people of guys that could have been great. They were fantastic. Now you see them and they're just absolute disasters. I'm like, You guys, I'm just trying to make sure that shit doesn't happen to me. I'm saying. Speaking of you can do your future, though, what's your path? Not so much. I'm sure you don't give a shit who you fight next. Maybe you're probably more worried about the date, less about the person, but are you on a two fight a year schedule? Is it just when you're feeling it? Is it a time of year? How much does that record mean to you? Because when I try to think, in my head when we were talking about doing this interview, I was thinking, I wonder if he actually cares. Is it something that's just cool or is it really not that concerning to you?

It's not concerning to me. Honestly, the cool thing about it is I feel like I've been doing this a long time. I've put a lot into this. And I feel like, to be honest, I feel like I'm way better than I've even achieved. I feel like I've underachieved. I feel like I could have done a lot more. I made some mistakes and a lot of things. So when I tied that record with Derek Lewis, I felt like I got a lot of recognition. You guys are bringing me on and talking about it right now. So brought recognition that I felt was lost that I felt like I deserved for a long time. But you have to go earn it. You don't really get what you deserve. You get what you earn. It's the old saying. I feel like I went out and finally earned it. When you talk about wanting to fight again, it is a lot about the date and the injuries. For my next fight, what I would really like, and I highly doubt it's going to happen, but I would love to fight Derek Lewis. I'd love to go up to heavyweight.

That's the greatest call out in the history of the universe.

Take my money.

Bro, you.

Got it? I'm in. I'm in.

This would be the funnest fight ever, like for the KO record.

That's amazing.

Come on. I'm not.

I would watch it. I'm in. And that's a winnable fight.

It's winnable. It is winnable.

It's a winnable fight.

Two.

Human beings.

It's certainly winnable for him. He's go... If I get touched, I'm fucking going to the hospital that night. But he's got to touch me you, bro. You guys part with heavy weights before.

They move through.

It's harder for them to hit you, man. You can dodge their punches pretty well.

And they get fast as well.

Yeah, for sure. They have a hard time dealing with it. I would love that challenge, bro. I'd get on my knees and beg Dana for that.

That's going to be the headline tomorrow morning. I'm telling you. Because you had a good call out of Conor McGregor. You're like, All right, well, let's fight for it then. You know what I mean? When he came out and said he was that record, of course, everyone was that record. But that's the one Derek Lewis.

Yeah, I'll tell you, with Conor, I just want the red panty night. That's all I get to talk about. He's a nobody, to be honest, in my opinion. He was amazing. I give him all the props for everything he did. At this point, he's a bum.

I love that. I love the quickness.

The only reason I never said anything, Matt, was because I talk my fair amount of shit. And anytime I say anything about him, it's always in the headlines. He's coming after me and talking shit. And I thought, Well, on this occasion, I don't need to.

Well, it's been happening to Matt a lot. Every once in a while, I'll see, like, Matt Brown says, and I'm like, All right, let's go read this shit and see what he actually said, because whatever the headline says is bullshit. Well, you.

Can headline that. It won't be bullshit. Like, dude, C oder... I think he's lost what? Four of his last five, right? And he has been like that. Has a fucking done nothing. Everything you see is him drinking or getting coked up or it's juiced out of his mind. That's fucking bum life to me. All that money don't make you not a bum.

That's also true. You can be as rich as you want. You can still be an asshole and a bum for sure.

You're still a bum to me, but when you step in the cage, you're a fucking bum.

Right. Hey, powerful words, brother. Powerful words. Something you were saying before really resonated with me, what you were talking about, the fight as life and all the rest of it, because it chooses us as well. And like when Anthony said, what are you looking for? Is it just cool? And it's like, well... B ispin, can I interrupt you real quick? Go ahead. Go ahead. Do you want.

To say hi to somebody real quick?

Please.

Colly, the B ispin podcast.

Hey.

Hey.

Let's go. B ispin, get.

Me on there, bro. What's up, brother? How are you doing, man?

They're on the podcast right now.

What's up, man? Let's go. Fuck it, man. Let's roll on. Carbo side. Have a house for life. Mark, I'll reach out. I'll be in touch. He can't hear shit.

Yeah.

We got to get him on. We'll let you go as well, mate. We know you're a busy man. You got the businesses, you got the family, you got the children. Tell Mark I'll reach out. Thank you for your time. Really appreciate it.

My pleasure, man. Hey, thanks, man. I told you he brings a different energy, bro.

He does. He does. It might not have the best possible way.

Yeah, take.

Care, brother. You take care, Mark. All the best. All the best. Mark Hall, man. What a legend that guy is.

What a legend.

He really is. Derek Lewis.

Derek Lewis, what a call out.

What a call out. I love it. That was so unexpected. It was.

So unexpected. I was like, Yeah, fuck it, book it. I'm in. I'm the boss.

Yeah, I thought he'd call out Connor because he had that tweet and whatnot. You know what I mean? Everyone calls out Connor and the odds are getting that fight. But no, I want Derek Lewis. I want the Black Beast. I want to settle this once and for all. Oh, I love it. All right, let's shout out our old friends Chuck. They are back with BYM. That is Chuck, C H, O, Q. Com. It's been a while since we had an all natural supplement here, believe you me. Our friends at Chuck are back. They're the only natural supplement products worthy of the BYM stamp of approval. Sometimes guys who eat really want to train hard and are in good shape, they don't see the need for supplements. But the thing is, you got to take every natural advantage that you can get. Men's testosteroids levels, they're at an all time low. And then a day goes by that I don't see a guy who's had a bad diet earlier on in life or low levels of testosteroids naturally that could use a little boost to help out their training, to help their results, to get the desired results, to improve your energy, your lib, whatever it is.

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What a legend Matt Brown is. And all three of those guys were Kim, Mohamed and Matt. Thank you all for your time. We really appreciate you. What's some big breaking news or big story right now, Harrington, as you back away from the microphone?

Sorry, I just wanted to follow up on that California story. So if you look at that video there, the roommate actually at one point opens the door, so the guy falls through with the pickaxe. Then he's able to disarm him and police did arrest him. The guy's identity has not been.

Given out yet. When I saw that, and I don't want to go into too much detail about it because it's family business, but my brother had a pickaxe in his head buried in his head when he was serving in the army. When I saw that, it really just brought chills to me. As I say, he has his wife and his children so he doesn't want that spoken about too much. We'll leave it there. But when I saw that, I was like, Holy shit, man. It's fucking crazy. That's crazy. Anyway. Breaking news.

Tyson Ferry responded to the Dana White call out. He said, If you guys want me to fight, it's got to be under boxing rules. I don't roll around the floor. I stand up and punch.

Yeah. No shit, Sheryl Lark. Isn't it weird how in this day and age? Because I remember the early days of MMA when it started popping and breaking out. And obviously, Tyson is saying that, but a lot of people still look at the grappling side of things and just don't get it. They still just think, What are these men doing rolling around on the ground?

They always turn it into something sexual because they're uncomfortable, I think, with it a little bit. So this is, I don't roll around with sweaty men.

They make it a whole more erotic.

Yeah, they make it weird. It's frustrating. It's one of the hardest things to do.

Without.

Question. Jutsu, in my opinion, is way harder to learn than striking. And there's way more intricacies and nuances. And it's miserable if you're losing, that's for sure. I'd much rather lose a striking exchange than a grappling exchange, for sure.

But it's way harder to learn. It is so common. And so is wrestling as well to use wrestling effectively because I remember getting shown a single leg and I could do it if I put my head on the outside because I thought I could drive my shoulder into it. But doing it correctly where your head on the inside and you get the leg and you run the pipe and all the rest of it, I'm like, This doesn't work. This is when I'm fighting in the UFC, by the way. I'm like, I can just do it. If I put my head on the outside, I can use my shoulder and force them down. I'm like, Yeah, but you're going to get guillotied. And they're absolutely right. And it's not the technical way. It's so hard to learn. And I think back to Lucas because we've had him in Jutsu for years. Now he's at a place where they do Jutsu, but they also do striking as well. He's loving it way more because obviously striking, and I'm a striker, you know what I mean? By trade, if you will. So I'm not knocking, kick boxing, boxing, tie, whatever you want to call it.

But it is easier to grasp. And it is not as physically taxing on the body. I mean, taking the shot to the face, you might get a little superficial, a bust lip, a bust nose, whatever. All right, granted, there's worse things can happen. But it is nowhere near as hard as learning a proper grappling guard.

100 % agree. 100 % agree. And to be fair, Tyson is smart for not... Of course, he's not going to fight in the US. He knows how that's going to go. It's not well. It's he doesn't have enough time left in his life to close the gap between him and John Jones. If John stopped training right now, he doesn't have enough time left on Earth to get there. It's just how it is.

Well, yeah. I mean, look at what I just said. I was in the UFC and still struggling with a single leg. Do you know what I mean? Joaquin Buckley said, I've got a double leg, which he did use to great effect against Andre Fiala, by the way.

I got three take downs in my whole UFC career. I can't wrestle to save my fucking life.

I had a few fights where I had some good ones, like against Brian Stan, I had some nice double legs on that guy simply because he hits so bloody hard. I'm like, Yeah, I got to take the ref down. But speaking of real men, I don't know if we were, but this is my segue anyway. Drighis du Plessy, he came out this week and he had some very refreshing and honest things to say in regards to taking the Whitaker fight. Because the word on the street is that he's not taking the smart fight because him and Alassane have some beef. And according to Alassane, he's Why would you take the Whitaker fight when you can just come and fight me? And here's what Du Plessy had to say. He said, I don't want to get that title shot based on some hype created by I don't even know what. Some guy who has the title, who's behaving like a little child and overreacting, and now the fight is happening because of hype. I want to deserve my title fight. I don't want to be handed a title shot. I'm going to deserve my belt. And that's why I wanted that Whitaker fight.

He's full of shit. You mean to tell me he thinks he had the opportunity to get a title fight and decided to fight Robert Whitaker instead? He's full of shit. Shut the fuck up. Your paycheck is going to be triple for a title fight. And you said, no, I'm going to take the way harder fight for a third of the money just so I can make sure I deserve it. Shut the fuck up.

You just cut through that bullshit. I really respect this. This is amazing.

It means he wanted the title fight and the UFC said, no, we got to make sure you're ready. You have to fight Whitaker first and earn your opportunity.

You got to put the spin on it.

Yeah. He's got to spin that shit. He's full of shit. I like Dricus, but come on, don't bullshit me. Pretend like you turned down a title shot because you wanted to make sure you deserved it.

Get the.

Fuck out of here.

No way. Oh, shit. You killed me. Because you're right. I like Dricus a lot. I'm trying to pick him up and it turns into let's just talk shit about him.

I'm not trying to talk shit about him. We all play the game. But listen, we're here to be honest to the believers and that's bullshit.

Yeah. No, it really is. Talking of that, this is a good segue. One of Drickey's former opponents, Darren Tilder, got into a housing, putting the notes here, and maybe Harryton can shed some light, he started his own fight promotion. Gorilla Fight Club. Yeah, he's launched his own promotion to focus on celebrity fights called Gorilla Fight Club. Harryton, I haven't clicked on the link. I haven't read the story, but obviously you have because you put it in there. Could you shed some light, please?

No, you got the gist of it there. It's essentially an influencer boxing League. So he wants to get celebrities, influencers, YouTube stars, etc. And just have a fight promotion where they go under a guerrilla fight club.

But listen, I wish him all the best with it. And certainly, it seems to be an appetite in that market these days. It's crazy. If you think back to a few years ago, this whole genre didn't exist. You know what I mean? There was boxing, there was the mixed martial arts. Now you got this whole... How do you feel about it? Now you go, Listen, J. Paul's the prime example and what a titty he is. In fact, did I tell you, he was.

Shooting me.

More DMs again the other day.

Oh, shit. He did. I mean, there's more.

There's more? There's more. Just the other day, I was in Vegas. Do you want.

To hear them? I do.

I can't wait. I get called the company manager. People are going to go, Yeah, that's right. Jake Paul's right. Yeah, go Jake. Just out the blue, I don't know what prompted this. How did Dana's nuts taste? And I said, How did Tommy Fuey's amateur uppercut taste? And he goes, I'm 26 and I've made more in that amateur fight than you made your whole career. Now you're on your knees gobbling nuts and calling slap fires. You don't have the courage to stand up and fight. Just trying to make a paycheck from the man. That's you. I put, did all that money buy those super fast running shoes you wore when you literally ran like a bitch from Floyd? Big, tough Disney boy pretending to be a fighter. And he goes, just admit it, I'm 100 times smarter than you'll ever be. And I'm 26. That's crazy, man. Damn, you're sad. Get on your knees. And I just thought, Okay, Disney boy, I'm not getting into it. I'm not defending myself. Whatever, Disney boy. Whatever.

There's a whole another genre of fighting, even outside of the Jake Paul freak show type of stuff. Do you know Chris Cimozi?

Chris Kamozi? Yeah, of course.

Yeah. So his girlfriend is an Instagram influencer. She's got crazy amount of followers. Her name is Whitney Johns. And she's in this organization that only does influencer boxing. So I wouldn't even call them celebrities. They're just big social media influencers, guys with millions and millions of followers on TikTok and Instagram and Twitter. And they're in this thing, it's like a tournament where they're fighting like five times in a year. I think it's five. But Whitney's got four fights in eight months or something. And she just fought in, I want to say it was London. Yeah, that's Whitney. And then now she got a fight coming up in Ireland. But it's nothing but influencers. I like it, actually.

Hey, listen, I always say this, you can't knock someone for being enterprising. You know what I mean? For trying to make money. Life is tough. Living day to day. That's what I worry about my kids. There's a few people as well that I worry about them because I know, and we said before about the fight game, choose you up and spit you out. Life chews you up and spits you out. Just getting day to day, paying your bills, having a roof over your head, making your car payment, paying for insurance, having food on the bloody table, paying the bills. It's hard. It's hard. And I commend anybody and I'm only having a bit of fun with you, Paul, I commend anyone that is finding a way, finding a path, cracking the code and finding a way to make this all work. You know what I mean? So I don't hate on anyone. But the fight games, it's a dangerous path.

It is.

And I just hope... And I wish Darren all the best with his promotion, by the way. I'm not talking shit about Darren because Darren's a real one and he's a fighter through and through. And I hope he smashes it out of the park and makes an absolute fortune. And Darren, I'd love you to jump on and join us and help shed a bit of light on your promotion. And I know Darren, I know the people around him. So he's got some smart people around him. But all these influencers, celebrities, YouTubersbers, all the rest of it, it's a tough game. And I just hope no one gets seriously hurt because look at Matt Brown, look at you, look at me, look at the majority of the people in the UFC, look at people in the UFC, mixed martial artists, boxers, real boxers, people like Jason Pueblo. I know you don't know Jason too but fucking fighters, fucking real fighters. You know what I mean? That's what this game is all about. That's why people resonate with it. That's why they get a following. You know what I mean? These people now they see a way to quick fame and fortune.

I just hope nobody gets hurt.

Yeah, because then once you get to that point, it's not all worth it anymore. And that's the...

The money ain't.

Worth it. That's the one thing. They just don't know what they don't know because they didn't have to walk the long path or take the long road like the rest of us. At some point in time, there's going to be someone who's going to end up in water that's much deeper than they expected to be in. And the consequences aren't going to outweigh the reward isn't going to outweigh the consequences.

That's some real shit what you just said there because it's so true. It's like even me, when I decided to step away, I had one eye and I thought, lightening is never come straight twice. And then I started having issues with my good eye, granted it wasn't overly serious, but it was a vitrious detachment. And I was still going to carry on fighting. And my buddy said, Hold on a minute. He said, Why are you doing it? I said, Another payday, another paycheck, and probably to stroke my own ego because I love it and because it's what I felt I was destined to do. He said, Yeah, but you go blind. If you actually went blind, you would give back every single goddamn penny that you ever earned to be able to see your children again. And these people, these YouTube, on average, 13 people die a year from boxing.

It's crazy.

Thirteen people. And if one.

Of these influencers gets followed. And they're doing it just for some followers. They're already rich.

Yeah. And they think it's a game.

It's not.

It's a sport.

You.

Don't play fighting. It's a lifestyle. And you got to be cut from a certain cloth. And if one of these guys wakes up, or girls wakes up, it's got them fucking vegetable because they've had their head punched in over 12 rounds and granted the YouTube stuff or the celebrity stuff, they're not doing 12 rounds or whatever. Yeah, I'm just fighting it. You know what I mean? One of them comes.

Round and they've got brain damage. Yeah, brain damage is brain damage.

You know what I'm saying? Yeah. Anyway, I know you got to go.

Yeah, I do. I got to jet. You got to bail? Yep, I got to jet. I have to leave you the questions by yourself again.

Goddamn it. No worries, buddy. Both day, we have McKenzie Dern and Benel Darrell, you should.

Love them. Hell yeah. All right, well, just text me when you're all done. I'll let you guys know how my drives going. Today was a goddamn amazing show.

Yeah, it bloody was. Subscribe and ring the bell, guys. If you're listening and you haven't subscribed and you haven't rung the bell, then I'll ring the bell now. What the hell are you doing? It's your problem. Anthony Smith, get the hell out of here. Go on, piss off. You're dead to me. And there it is. Antony Smith abandons the show and leaves me to these two fine people. Hamilton and Brian, how are you guys? Put me in the middle. Put me in the middle. I don't know where to go. I don't know where to look at. Big thanks, Matt Brown, Mckin Buckley, and Mohamed McKive. Really enjoyed talking to you those two. Matt Brown, he's an intense dude, man. He's intense. I like him. I like him a lot. Of course, have you seen him playing the... He's on Twitter at the minute. He's got his shirt off looking like a rock star playing the guitar. Have you got to see that? No, I haven't seen it. Brilliant. Anyway, question time. You know the drill. Send them into bynpod@gmail. Com. Video questions only, please. And try and put a bit of thought because poor old Brian goes through these questions and every time he's like, all right, we got a couple of good ones.

We've got some ridiculous ish. So yeah, send them into bynp od@gmail. Com.

And if you're listening on iTunes, Spotify, wherever you find podcasts, make sure to subscribe to the show and leave a five star rating positive review. It really helps out on those platforms. If you're watching on YouTube, make sure you subscribe and you hit that notification bell. As Michael said, you find out whenever a new video drops. And if you want to catch over 400 episodes, you can't find or anywhere else completely ad free and totally uncensored. Head to gasdigital. Com, brand new website. Use the promo code BYM, get yourself a seven day free trial. Check out over 20 great shows on the network.

And first question.

We got here.

Today is from Mr. Chris Kelly.

Hey, what's up, BYN Pod guys? Love the podcast, love the podcast. Love all of you.

Hey, Michael.

Just finished reading your book, dude.

Absolutely.

Loved it.

Feeling totally inspired.

So thank you for that. Espn MMA posted a question on their YouTube asking, Who is the fighter who you think had the most exciting title reign? I want to ask you guys, who is the fighter that you guys.

Think had.

The most exciting title reign? A lso, I'll give you my answer real quick. So for me, this might not be.

The most.

Popular answer, but man, guys, I got to be honest, I got to go with Ronda Rousey.

Now, I.

Think the main reason is because she is the fighter that got me into MMA. I'm 31 now. So she was fighting back when I was in high school. And man, I was just reviewing over her record and her statistics. And goodness, 7 out of her eight times title fight wins were first round submissions. I mean, that is insane.

So I'd love to hear what you guys think.

Who do you guys think.

Had the most exciting.

Title run for you to experience as a fan watching? Keep the show up, guys. Love it. Can't wait for your next fight, Anthony. Let's go. Let's go indeed. Well, thank you very much for the question. And it's an interesting point when it brings up that because I understand his reasoning. Rousey was his introduction to MMA, so he was along for the ride and he was watching, he was obsessing and she was doing incredible things and her towel run was phenomenal. But that had a personal influence on his life. It's like when you discover the sport and this is the person that's leading the way or leading the charge, if you will, well, my head's leading the goddamn charge, just got out of bed and did not do it particularly well, as you can see. And for me, the person that I'm going to say in Hamilton, I want to hear yours as well. But for me, and there was a personal reason that I was invested, I think it was Anderson Silver. Anderson Silver, the career that he had was phenomenal. When I signed, when I won the ultimate fighter, I think it was a day after, maybe two days after, Anderson Silver made his UFC debut against Chris Levy.

And I was front row with Rebecca we were still in Vegas. I saw him beat Chris Levy. Then he fought Rich Franklin for the belt and I'd just signed. When I was fighting on cage rage, Anderson Silver fought in cage rage as well. So I knew who the guy was and I had my eye on him. I was following his career and what he did in his path. What he was doing totally inspired me massively. So for me, I've got to say Anderson Silver, and I just got his record here. So he beats Chris Leven, knocks out Rich Franklin, submits Travis Luter, beats Nate Marquardt, round one, beats Rich Franklin again, submits Dan Henderson, knocks out James Irvine, Patrick Corte blows his knee out, beats tallis Lattice, knocks out Forest Gryffin, beats Damion Meyer, triangles Cails Sonner in the last seconds of that fight, knocks out Vitor Belfort with the front kick to the face, Yushin or Kami just punked him and made him look easy, destroy Cails Sonner in the rematch, and then wiped out Stefan Banner, may you rest in peace. So for me, it wasn't so much just the run and the reign, which is one of the most legendary in all of mixed martial arts.

I think he still has the record for the most defenses. It was also the way that he was doing it, the way that he beat Forest Gryffin, the front kick to the face of Vitor Belfort. Coming back from a brutal beatdown over four and a half rounds against Celson and still getting it done. Submitting Dan Henderson, taking him down or submitting him with a rear naked choke. He truly was the full package. And even though I talked so much shit, I only did that because he inspired me so much and I had so much respect for him. I had to tear him down. I've said that many times, but every time I feel like I have to say that because I did talk a tremendous amount of shit. But that was purely from a respect angle from my perspective because I had to tear him down. But Harrington, who would your suggest you'd be?

My head first went to either GSP or Anderson Silver, but I do remember during both of their runs, having the thought, I'm not even going to bother watching that pay per view because in my mind, they were such dominant champions that the Tyson rule applied, you know what I mean? It's a formality for my 50, 60 bucks, whatever the pay per view price was at that time. For me, the ones that come to mind, there's three. It's Ravi Lawler. He had the great fight winning it against Hendrix, defended against Rory McDonald in an absolute classic, defended against Carlos Conda in a fight of the year candidate, and then obviously lost it to Woodley. Khabib?

But also on Ravi Lawler there, and that's a great choice, shout out to Ravi Lawler, well done for bringing him up because he does deserve the respect. A lot of the new fans, the noobs, if you will, they're not overly familiar. But to see Robby Lawler to finally become champion of the world after such a long career, that was so inspirational. Continue.

And I mean, the hole that was left in the Walter Ray division after GSP left. I feel like Robby Lawler really put an exclamation point on that and solidified that belt. Khabib, obviously, he won the belt, had it. The interim belt, had it graduated to the undisputed, defended against Conner. Poorey wins an interim title to get the shot at him. Gagy wins the interim title to get the shot at him. So there was just so much hype behind every one of those Khabib title defenses that I feel like his reign was something super special. And then a young boy from the Row who Avenged the worst loss of his career and sold out Madison Square Garden, got GSP to come out of retirement. That was a hell of a title run, Mr.

Bates bank. Well, thank you, sir. I really appreciate that. I'm just looking at a list here of the most wins in their UFC title fights. And here we've got Jon Jones at number one. It's crazy that we didn't even mention Jon Jones, let's be honest. But he plays the bad guy a lot and there's been some bad things. So he had 15. George St. Pierre at 13, Demetrius Johnson at 12, Anderson Silver at 11. So I was definitely wrong. Amanda Nunez, Matt Hughes, Randy Khetur, Shef Chenko, Adel Sanya, Jose Aldo at eight, Ronda Rousey at six, Steve Pay at six, Kormie at six, Oteas at six, Yon J. Chek, Frank Chamrock, Pat Militich, Volker Nofsky, Chuck Liddell, B. J. Penn, Max Hollaway, Khabib.

Volker Nofsky, Volkerovsky is a real contender right there. I was.

Going to say, I think we're living through one of the most.

Exciting champions right now.

In Volkerovsky. I mean, the dude took it to.

Islam for.

Pound for pound.

He.

Looks like a world beater.

That Brian Ortega fight was ridiculous.

I.

Think Volkerovsky might be my choice.

And Volker, you're absolutely right. We are living through something special. I'm going to reach out actually and see if we can get him on the show soon because he's got such a great personality as well. And I'm such a fan of the guy. He's one of those rare guys. Remember when he fought Islam, he lost the fight. But I incorrectly said on the microphone because I assumed because he lost the fight, he would lose the pound for pound number one status. But even in defeat, he was still the pound for pound number one. Do you know what I mean? The man truly is special. It's unbelievable. So good shout there, Brian. Well done. And a good question. Thank you very much. What else we got?

All right, so we got another question here from Jacob Zakowski. Yo, what is up, BYM Pod? Jake here with another question from Pennsylvania. So, Mike and Anthony, I was just wondering, do you guys think that mixed martial arts will ever be a sport in college? One that people can get full rides for? I know they can do that with wrestling, but I was just wondering if you guys ever thought they would be able to do that with the complete sport of mixed martial arts.

Thanks.

Also, look at the sun. It looks really.

Good today. It looks really good, but it's not going to be there for much longer, buddy. That sun is setting like this podcast's sun is setting. Not in the grand scheme of things. I'm just talking about we're winding up the show. Thank you, Jake, for the question. That's a tough one. I would love to see a day that happens. But think back to the conversation I was having with Anthony before. This is... I mean, wrestling is really tough on the body. It's the hardest element of mixed martial arts. But real, true combat, which is what this is, is always going to have its naysayers. But it's weird because boxing, as I said, 30 people on average day a year, and that was... T is an Olympic sport. They changed that, they took it out of the Olympics for a brief moment. Is it back in now? I'm not sure on the status of that actually. It better bloody have been. No, no. Boxing. They were talking about removing it from the Olympics. But still, I don't think so. It's still in there, right, Harrington? Yes. There was talk about removing it from the Olympics, which was just insane.

But I don't think we'll ever see that. I really don't. I hope to God we do. That would be incredible. It'd be a massive thing for the sport, but I just don't feel that there will come a time where a sport that is as beautiful, as technical, as challenging, and as hard but also which can be as brutal would have those scholarship programs.

So I just looked it up. I don't believe there's boxing scholarships for college either. So I think that's a good litmus test.

It's a yeah. And that's the spot.

Boxing doesn't have it.

Yeah. As you said, fantastic litmus test, but a great question. Now, thank you, Jake. What was the other guy called? I was trying to remember. I always forget the names. But still, keep the questions coming. Bynmpo. Gmail. Com. And that is.

Chris Kelly.

Chris Kelly in the house. That's it, boys and girls. That's the show. We'll be back Monday in McKinsey Durn. Beneil Dariush. You never know, we might even squeeze another one in a few. It depends on that he's really high, flying, international, 10 hour drive celebrity status. Thank you for watching. Take care. Enjoy your weekends. See you soon.