It. I appreciate you guys, man. Thank you.

No, thanks to the early Bellator days. And it seems like there was a huge difference in your mentality and just your fighting style in general when you came to the UFC. You've always been super exciting, crazy, explosive. I could go on and on and on about the things that I love to watch you do. But what was it specifically that changed? Because it's like you got to the UFC and you t's almost like you're playing with house money. It's the weirdest thing. It's the coolest thing in the world to watch. But it's like as soon as you came in, you signed the contract and just said, Fuck it, I'm going.

I will say yes, I do. I've said this on record. I do feel like I'm in my second career now. Guys, I could very easily be doing this interview signed with Bellator for the last two years because I just kept doing it. It made business sense. It made sense for me to make those decisions. It never felt like the right time. But then when it did feel like the right time and the door started, the door was unlocked, I wanted to kick the door down and I did. With that being said, too, yes, I do think you lose to one of those guys in Bellator, it's not so great. Now I'm fighting... That's part of it, too. Let's not forget, I'm fighting the best guys in the world at 155 pounds. Maybe if I'd fight a little bit more methodically, maybe if I'd look for a break pedal every now and then, and I still haven't seen one my entire career. But foot on the gas constantly in your face. But I do think there is just a freedom and a happiness and a joy and a peace and a contentment. As I said, it's not my job to go out there and entertain people.

It's my job to go out there and win fights. I get that when people give me that criticism or even fellow fighters or analysts, former fighters, I get it. But sometimes it's hard to teach an old dog new tricks and you go out there and the crowd gets a hold of you and you just have a black.

It's fun though as well.

It is fun. But it would be nice to win a couple more than I'm planning.

But come on, everyone wants to be a fan favourite. So many things I want to ask you. Of course, we're going to talk about the title fight next week in Australia and all the rest of it. But you mentioned Bellator there. And of course, I don't expect you to talk bad about them or anything like that. That's not what I'm looking for. But you're in a relatively unique position. There's a lot of others that have done it, but we haven't done that fighting for Bellator and the UFC, I mean. What are some of the main differences that you've seen? I'm assuming, and maybe I'm wrong, that one of the main things is a level of recognition for what you do is that would I be correct in saying that?

Yeah. It's hard to even describe it. And while you also.

Describe it... And again, we're not here to knock Bellator. That's not what.

We're doing. And I think people know me, and even the Bellator brass, I have seen them here and there. I've said things about Bellator, and quite frankly, in so many words, that the UFC, I just enjoy it better. It doesn't mean they were bad and the UFC is good, but the level of recognition is just absolutely astronomical compared to Bellator. And not to mention the fact that I have always poured my heart and soul into every single fight, whether I was fighting a guy that you all have never heard of or I'm fighting Vincent Henderson or Eddie Alvarez, one of these guys you had heard of back then. I'd show up to my fight and they're sending the second string and third string media people from MMA junky and all these other people. I'm like, Oh, where's Ariel? And Hey, where's this guy? Oh, they're at the UFC event.

John Morgan.

Yeah, exactly. John Morgan's at the UFC while there's someone else at the Bellator fights. And these were bigger fights. I was always in the big fights in Bellator, but that was the number one thing. Number two, I do think there's a level of competition that is just different. It truly is. From a business side of thing or organization side of things, the UFC has ran a true sports organization, Fortune 500 company, not a skeleton crew where one guy is handling medicals and travel and his fighter operations. There's departments. There's a travel department that's bigger than the entire Bellator staff in the US. The PR department that's bigger than the entire Bellator staff, and that's nothing against them. It's just that's the way that they run their business. For me, it was time to go test the waters and it's worked out pretty darn well so far.

I heard someone that had been in Bellator before and then moved on to the UFC. Excuse me, I heard them say in an interview one time, it's nice when someone asks what you do for a living and you say, oh, I'm a professional fighter. T hey say, oh, like the UFC? No, it's like the UFC. I'm just not in the UFC. That was their difference between Bellator and the UFC.

Hey, listen, the amount of times that happened to me, that made or I'm walking through a casino in Las Vegas with Ryan Bater, gray Maynard, C. B. Dalloway, Chris Wyman, all these guys were part of my management group. So I would hang out with these guys. The amount of times I had, Hey, buddy, can you hold my phone and take a picture of me and gray Maynard? You train with these guys? Well, my name is Michael channel and Bellator Champion right now. They're like, Oh, yeah, actually.

Yeah.

You look familiar.

Yeah. I don't say that to, like you said, crap on Bellator. I was a guy who was building my brand exponentially compared to everyone else. I was constantly trying to add value on social media to build the brand, constantly posting video workouts and all that stuff and building my brand because Bellator just wasn't doing it for me, if you will. But I remember every single one of those interactions and how I felt and now getting this opportunity to be on the platform, the platform that we call the UFC that's just so much different. To give anything less than my best, like here, training, fighting, meeting a fan. I met a fan yesterday at the airport, talked to him for like five minutes. This is important to me because I know what it felt like to be overlooked and I know what it felt like to be undervalued, underappreciated, underplatformed, if you will. So it's really served me really well. And truthfully, like you said, Michael, I do have a very unique perspective because I truly don't believe UFC fighters on the roster who have only really known what the UFC is. They don't really truly realize what they have signed with the UFC.

They don't realize what it's like on the other side. They do not know and they never will know. So I have that unique perspective.

Yeah. I mean, I guess we all come from a regional circuit, but once you get to the big lease, you think it's all like that. I remember going in cornering, and again, I'm not trashing Bellator when I used to corner Kendall Grove. And I was like, Wow, it's a little bit different. This is like a regional show, but with a TV deal. But anyway, we're not here to talk crap about them. I love all the different platforms for the fighters. Who do you want next, Mike? We know you've been trying to angle for that Conor McGregor fight. I don't know if you know about Conor versus Tony on the ultimate fight. Did you hear about that?

I did. Yeah. No, that was definitely just a tweet. I know for sure that was definitely just a tweet throwing out there to see if it gained any traction.

Great. So we did a 30 minutes segment on that early.

Confirm Tony Ferguson just throwing stuff out there. That's been in the talks. Obviously, everybody knows I would be down, me, Connor, on tough, whether it be for six weeks, however long we will be filming that thing, the tension, the rivalry, the competition, the trash talk, just the animosity that will be built up and then go into a training camp and then fight later on after the show. I want the fight. Everybody knows that. The fans want the fight. Dana has gone public saying he wants that fight. So the UFC wants the fight. I've actually heard from numerous UFC people that that's the fight that a lot of people are talking about. Man, huge fight. Can you imagine the first round? Can you imagine the foggy due? And then my NF coming on. And then we go out there and then just two dudes trying to finish each other in the first round. Massive.

Let me just ask you, I'm sorry, Anthony, I know it's your turn. I'm jumping the gun there. But you've been in McGregor lately. He's not looking like a 155. Call it what you will. Call it supplements. Call it a rehab program. Call it good old fashioned steroids. Call it whatever you will. Would that fight in your mind, would you take it at 170 if you had to?

Absolutely. I actually have told myself, and you can go down to Florida and talk to my team, and I'm like, Man, if I win this fight, I'll never fight 155 again. I'm walking around almost 190 right now. I stay lean. I stay lean because I'm always training and I got my walk on fitness app that I've created that I'm coming out with new programs. So I'm constantly over here filming stuff and training, and I'm always in the gym. So I'm not getting fluffy or fat, and I'm always around that 185 to 190 clip. So 170 for me would be a dream come true. I don't like making 155. The only reason I can make 155 is just good old fashioned 12 weeks of diet, exercise, discipline, and a little bit of dehydration at the end, so why not do 170? I think I'm still thinking I'm bigger than Connor at this point, even with his regimen that he's been on.

There's no way that we're going to get out of this without me having to... As soon as Michael brought up Connor, I thought of the promo that you cut up on Conner. And I don't remember, just going back to the earlier days when I first started watching, I don't remember the fire ass promos. But to be fair, the platform wasn't exactly what it is right now. And the emphasis after those fights wasn't always on the interview. It was more on the fight, which is fine.

But do.

You pocket those things? Because you're so well spoken. And even as we're talking here, I'm like, damn, that's a great answer. But there's no way that was pocketed because he knew he didn't know I was going to ask that question. So is that something you think about as you're in training camp? And there's certain things you want to say or points you want to get across?

Yeah. Obviously, in interviews and whatnot, I'm just flying by the cuff. My couple of promos that I've cut, I've definitely had them say, hey, I know I want to say this, this, and this, or I want to call this guy out because it all had great it all had a great implications in it. Because in the last time I talked about it was Gagy and Olivera who fought that night. Yeah, Gagy and Olivera who fought that night. I talked about how people wanted to see me rematch either of those guys. And then if the UFC did have a momentary lapse of judgment, I want Conor McGregor. So I already know... The fire line.

It's a fire line.

I already know what I'm.

Going to say. It's the delivery, though. Not just the line, the delivery, Mike. You commit to it.

100 %. Joe, I.

Was like, right in the middle of the fight. Let's go. Come on, come on, Mike, give me some. Let's go. Come on. You're in the ring. You've just knocked somebody out. I'm Joe Roegen. I'm handing you a microphone.

Exactly. That's what I said. I was talking to the camera or talking to the microphone. And then it turned to Joe. And Joe, if the UFC does have a momentary lapse of judgment. And then what people really love that gives them chills is when I went, God.

Of.

Mcgregger. God of McGregger. You got to give the big old sniff. Big breath. Big old sniff. That was not planned. That just happened. I think I almost went... I was about to pass out, so I had to get some air. But just calling out Conner, and obviously, he's is the guy that I've wanted to fight. And yes, is it the red painting night? Is it the big payday? That's what everybody says, of course. But when you get into the sport of mixed martial arts, you want to try to win belts. You want to get the biggest stages, the brightest lights, the biggest platforms. And who else is out there in the sport today and possibly we may never see somebody like Conor McGregor again. Then when you start talking about... He's been very cordial with me on social media and said some things about me, and it's never in a trash talking way. You can have a legitimate rivalry and want to rip somebody's head off without also calling their names or doing whatnot. But the funny thing is me and Connor being locked in a house together, not in a house together, but having to see each other multiple times a day, that'll bring something out of you.

You did it, Michael. I can only imagine.

I made a complete ass of myself.

Michael visiting today, so that's all that.

Matters, right? Oh, no, I know. But honestly, oh, my God, I die inside when I see some more clips, but still. But you are right. Mcgregor is a whale when it comes to stardom and all the rest of it. But that's because regardless of whether or not he's lost a couple of fights recently, the man brings excitement. And that's exactly what you bring as well. So, yeah, take my money. Take my money all day long. Next weekend is the Mahachev Alexander Volkanovsky. This is your way division. Volkanovsky is stepping up. How do you see this one playing out?

Man, it's very interesting because Islam has proven, aside from the... He's got one loss, right? The one time he got caught and clipped, just like we all can, right? Aside from that, he's looked very dominant, doing exactly what he wants to do, which is go out there, throw a couple of punches, go out there, take you down, control you, submit you, or beat you up on the ground. He doesn't have quite the ground in pound like Habib did. I hate making the comparison of Habib because that's what we always do. The man deserves his respect. The man deserves to be Islam, not Habib's training partner, Habib's little brother, Habib's underling, if you will. But with that style, he's just so dang strong. He's a lot taller than Volkanovsky. So if this fight gets to the ground, Volkerovsky is scrappy, but Islam is going to be something bigger, stronger, and different than Volkerovsky has ever seen or felt. With that being said, Volkerovsky, I mean, the way that he makes decisions on the fly in fights, changes up his game plan and changes up his style. He's so dominant in the offensive striking and defensive striking, counter striking.

The wrestling is good. He's great everywhere. You got a guy who really is the number one pound for pound guy in the world who is very well-versed against Islam, who is somewhat one dimensional but also has a nice big chip on his shoulder now, too. You get that gold belt put around your waist. He's a different Islam. It's similar to what I said about Charles Olivera. Charles Olivera resurrected his career after he got a couple of wins and got that belt. A ll of a sudden, he turned into a guy that we never even thought was possible. So do we see the best Islam? And is he able to go out there and take him down? Or do we see Volkanovsky just thwart everything? And we see a hard fought battle leading up to the fifth round where we're going into it two to two. If I had to be a betting man, I think Islam has the edge. I do. Only because I do think Islam is so much bigger and so much stronger than Volkanovsky has used to, even though Volkanovsky used to be like, what, 200 pounds when he played rugby.

While you got your analyst hat on, because we do make that comparison with Habib and Islam, and obviously you had your wants to fight Habib. I think you're pretty familiar, both of those guys. Who do you think is better? Who's the overall better fighter between the two of them?

Habib.

Just more dominant wrestling?

I do think so. Only because I don't think we haven't seen the... I don't know if I want to call it aggression. No, I think it's aggression. When Habib fought and he picked... When he bear hugged somebody, it was aggressive. You wanted to break your spine. Islam, very effective, will take guys down, but it was like, I want to break your spine. Habib, very active on top, constantly trying to roll, constantly trying to catch a wrist and do damage. He went from brilliant wrestler, I want to break your back, to straight up sledgehammer, I want to punch a hole through your head.

I don't exactly... While thrash talking.

Yeah. Yeah, wild trash talking.

Yeah, while trash talking. Brother, brother.

That's stuff that we don't see. That is unheard of. I don't say that, and I think there was a little bit of voice inflection there where it made it sound like Habiba was 10 times better. I don't think he's 10 times better than Islam, but in my book, Islam just hasn't proven that yet because we got to see Habiba run through so many guys in such a dominant fashion that Islam just needs to... I think Islam should be a little bit more aggressive on top and really look to be more dominant. He's definitely not a, I wouldn't call him a wet blanket, but he has more of that style where I'm going to hold this guy and I'm not thinking about beating the tar out of him like Habib used to.

So let's talk about Islam then, because Habiba is retired, right? And anytime someone's retired, it's not fair to talk about them in a fighting sense. But let's just say outside of the octagon, Mike, you're walking through, I don't know, some university campus. He's walking to the wrestling room and there's Habiba. Sorry, Islam is on the mat. He's a brother. You want to go for your rounds or whatever it is you guys do in wrestling? I'm joking. You versus Islam in a wrestling match. All American, the pride of the USA against Mahatma's finest, raining from Pakistan, who wins in a wrestling match.

You know, you're putting me in a bad spot here because this is what always happens because people are going to say, this guy just lost a kori, quit talking about Islam, quit saying that you would beat him.

In a wrestling match. This is what happens to us all. Every time Mike and I do this show, we get just blasted by media headlines and comments. We're the biggest pieces of shit out here.

We're.

Bringing.

You in. I'm not in a position to talk about how badly I would beat Islam in a wrestling match, but if I was going to wrestle Islam, I do believe they're two completely different styles, and I didn't wrestle a lot of international, quite frankly. But I think with the Russian Daghestani guys that I have wrestled in my gym that I am not saying hold a candle to Islam, it's a different style. But in my opinion, good old fashioned American division 1 wrestling works very well against it as long as you're able to withstand that hand fighting because they are very strong. I imagine Islam is very strong in that hand fighting category where those guys just feel different when they grab you. It's less slick and it's more... But I think I beat Islam in a wrestling match. Now that's going to be a headline and then everybody's going to say, there goes Chandler again talking about beating Islam when really we just want to fight Conner.

That's amazing. Man, what happens if the Conner fight doesn't come to fruition? Because I think this is what happens to a lot of guys. It's not a you thing, it's a Conner thing. Unfortunately for everyone in the division, whether that's 55 or 70, whoever Conner wants to fight is who's going to fight Conner. So if I'm Conner, to be 100 % honest with you, Michael Chandler is the completely opposite direction of anywhere I want to go. And that's just being honest, I think it's a stylistic thing. But he also likes big fights and likes to put himself in precarious situations because I think that's what he needs to get up. So I think that could be a great thing for you.

Can I just jump in that, though?

He does have... You're going to chop the.

Shit out of you. No, I'm just piggybacking on that and just say, Connor is extremely confident, though, what he's achieved. So I hear what you're saying. A management perspective might be like, avoid that guy. But in his mind, because fighters need protecting from themselves. He might be like, no, give me that guy. Let's go. Big fight.

He already fought me a couple of years ago. Chad Mendez, right? Just an overblown wrestle. Yeah. Right. Like a.

Blown up wrestle. Sorry, Anthony. Sorry, Anthony, you were saying.

And I think that's a good point, Mike, that it's definitely like a coaching management. Let's probably stay away from Michael Chauvin, but I think Connor gets off on people telling him that he can't do something. So I'm really just trying to help out Mr. Chauvin here by saying that I don't think can do it.

For sure. And it's funny thing, too, right? I do think, and people have said that, and trust me, I've had that thought where I'm like, Yeah, I don't think I'm necessarily the easiest fight for Connor. There's some other fights out there. There's some big fights out there. Guys who I.

Love Tony, but Tony's got a name and that's an easy fight for Connor. If it's Michael Chandler or Tony Ferguson, the paycheck's the same. I know exactly where I'm going.

But I'm with you. I truly think that Connor doesn't make him feel that. If he's fighting too many, it doesn't make him feel what he needs to feel. Because I've said this to numerous people when they're like, I just want to fight. I'm like, Dude... Because they said the same thing about Because Connor, I guess the Habib fight was a huge fight, but he should have never wanted to fight Habib. That's the toughest fight in the world. It's a stylistic nightmare. But Connor likes the huge, bright likes. He has never shied away from competition. The brightest in the competition.

But on that, and I want to get away from Connor because it's like we've been talking about him a lot this episode. Connor did pretty well against Habib. Now, granted, it didn't go to a decision. Lots of people did, but he did pretty good. I mean, he got choked out, but those first couple of rounds, it was hard to take down in round one, to be fair. Very hard.

Very hard. And he showed up and I think a lot of people that he was a force.

I've got to give a balanced opinion because sometimes I rip on him a lot, you know what I mean? Because he does a lot of things that deserve ripping off. Anyway, away from that, Michael, we know you're an absolute savage inside the oxagon. You're a tremendous wester. You're one of the most exciting fighters in the sport. You're articulate, you're intelligent. You're a wonderful family man. I love seeing all your stuff online. Tell me about Michael Chandler as a young man growing up. Where did he come from again?

He came from High Ridge, Missouri, man. A small town outside of St. Louis, Missouri. I lower middle class, outside of St. Louis. Father was a carpenter. Mom helped with my grandpa's business. She ran. She was a secretary and then worked at his restaurants. I very much was a small guy from a small town. I was taught to do small things. I say that in succession because I was undersized and I had people around me saying, Don't go outside those county lines because you might fall flat on your face and don't make a bunch of money because anybody who drives a car like that must be an a hole. Or anybody who gets to this level of fame or this level of platform must have nefarious dealings going on. I had to really battle that self talk. I had to battle that self image because, I mean, you guys have seen where I'm at now. It's like this is a dream come true. If 18 year old Michael would see where I'm at today, he would be absolutely blown away and probably feel extremely uncomfortable. So I've really had to will myself into being this. But wrestled in high school, wasn't a state champion, wasn't recruited anywhere, walked on to the University of Missouri, Mizzou wrestling, ended up becoming an all American there.

I had my big brothers there, my adopted big brothers, Ben Astor and Tyra Woodley, because I didn't have big brothers. T hey were the reason I got into mixed martial arts. I had my first fight in August of 2009 and somehow here I am still doing this thing.

So you never had... Were you a fan of the sport at all? Because I think my story, I wasn't nearly as good of a wrestler as you, but I came from a small town with super humble beginnings, no future in anything. O maha, Nebraska was an hour away and it might as well have been another country. D id you ever watch MMA or was it just Tyrant and Ben Ashford and we're just doing this cool thing and you're like, Wow, try that?

It's actually funny. So in high school, I had my best friend and roommate, Raymond Jordan, ended up becoming an all American, two time all American, actually, from New Bern, North Carolina. He didn't have a car, so he would walk down to Blockbuster and get the old Pride and UFC VHS tapes and play them at our house. And that was the first time I had ever seen a fight. But he was a huge fan, knew who Fator was, knew who Nog era was. It's like, Hey, you got to watch this fight. I'm like, I like wrestling and hand to hand combat. For some reason, I don't really like mixed martial arts that much. Then I started watching it a little bit and I'm like, Okay, this is cool. But then you also saw... Because to me back then, it was like, I don't know if these guys are making any money. Is that a real career or is that guys just fighting in Japan or whatnot? Then when Tyrone and Ben started fighting. Then I started going to their fights or Tyrone would be fighting and going down to ATT and coming back to Mizzou and wrestle with us a little bit and like, Hey, let's do some jutsu.

I wouldn't hold Mitzvah for him, but I would watch him get Mitzvah for him by some local guy. And that's when I started thinking, Okay, well, shoot. Tyrone is making a little bit of money. And then Ben came in, started making a little bit of money, and they were going to make a career out of it. So I was like, Well, I'll try it. So I drove down the Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri, which is about an hour and a half away and fought in front of 17 people for 500 bucks.

And there you go. At that point, you'd never really trained any boxing or anything like that. What about most young men getting to a few scraps, growing up? Were you a scrappy kid?

No, actually, I had never been in a street fight. I was too afraid to get in trouble. I was too afraid to get in trouble. I've heard your stories and I'm like...

No, I thought you were going to say you were too afraid of getting hit, too afraid of getting in trouble. That's beautiful. And I wish more young... That's an example you should follow. I thought you were going to say, Afraid of getting into a fight. I want to say, Compared to who you are today and the style that you have, now it's a beautiful man.

Definitely never afraid of that. Probably to my own detriment.

But that's that makes it even more impressive what you've achieved, M ike. It really does. Let me ask you this. Anthony Smith, when I started doing this podcast with him, I found out that the man has a bunch of cattle, he has camels, he has a bunch of very, very exotic animals that blew my mind. He's always buying something weird and silly. Tell us something about yourself that might surprise us or the people listening.

Right now. That's actually great. Well, first of all, what I usually say is that I've owned a professional bull, like a professional Bucking bull. Actually, I've owned two of them. With a guy named... You still got it? No, not anymore. But at one time, we had two different Bucking bulls, one named Molly Hatchett, like the old band, and then one named Uppercut, with a professional bull rider named LJ Jenkins, who has since retired, but he's known as one of the best bull minds and bull... He had one of the best bull eyes as far as seeing a good bull, and then now he's raising him. But to stay on the exotic animal track, my wife, I actually inherited a zebra when I married her. So there's an exotic animal farm a little bit south of Columbia, Missouri, called Lawley Brothers. And my father in law has a zebra along with two horses on his ranch in Missouri. So I go back and see Zeb the zebra every now.

And then. Michael Chauvin and I are meant to be best friends.

Exactly. We just figured this out.

Did we just become best friends? Did we? Hold on. Michael Chauvin, don't say anything. And did we just become best friends? What movie is that?

Step Brothers. See, I.

Got one. Okay. That's a little thing that we do in the show, M ike. He doesn't watch any movies.

That's good. I like those guys, though, too. I like the guys who can really pull out the one liners from the movies. But then I also like the guy where you seriously haven't seen that movie?

Yeah, there's a place for me here, Mr.

Busby. I've got a life. I don't watch juvenile movies. But, Anthony, how jealous are you that you don't have a zebra?

I don't have a goddamn zebra. Okay, for the longest time, I wanted to go to Texas and get a tiger because my brother knows five people that have tigers. I just can't get away with it here in Nebraska. I just can't because I'm not in Texas, but I could definitely have a zebra. I have to look into a zebra.

Yeah, actually, so not far from you, Michael, where are you at, Anthony? Are you still in? I'm at Omaha. I'm at Omaha. I'm still there. I was just in Temecula. You know where Temecula is, obviously.

Oh, yeah, that's 30 minutes from where I am.

Okay, so we just did this event this past weekend. Tim Kennedy was there. We did... It's called Operation Black Site, where we teach people self defense and small arms training and all that stuff. But we brought the real Tarzan in. You know who that is? From Instagram, the real Tarzan. He does all these animal things.

Oh, yeah. He's like a real ripped black guy.

Yeah, Mike Holtzner. But he goes by the real Tarzan. We had camels, we had alpacas, we had ostriches. There's a 26 acre ranch in Temecula that they've now turned into an exotic petting zoo farm as well.

What does that guy do? Because the only thing I ever see do is hang out with super hot chicks and he'll just be having a Komodo dragon walking through his living room or something. It's the craziest thing.

Yeah. So he literally has become one of the most influential biggest platform just animal lovers on the planet. He does a lot of philanthropy and raising awareness for poaching and just all of the different animal causes, as well as some of the Save the Earth, the plastics and all that stuff as well. Just a solid dude who made his passion animals. A lso, I heard him explain it on a podcast where he's like, Most people are afraid of snakes. That's one of people's biggest fears. M y biggest love became snakes because I want to take away people's fear or dampen people's fear of snakes. He brought out two 20 foot reticulated pythons to a group of 40 people. They were slithering around on the maps with us this past weekend. And it was like, He's made that mission. And obviously, he brings sponsors on. And that's makes his living.

So I'm not exactly scared of snakes, but my son, he has a Chur Angela, he has a bearded dragon, he loves animals. He wanted to get a snake, right? And I said, no, because people that have snakes are weirdos. When I grew up, anyone that had a pet snake in a tank was a weirdo. Where do you stand on this, M ike?

It's definitely not my cup of tea. I barely wanted a dog lately, mainly because I'm just busy as heck. But yeah, I'm not a big Reptile guy. It was cool to hold a snake. We're talking 15, 20 foot around my neck, and it was cool for a second, but I don't know enough about it, nor do I have the time or the know-how to. It was cool for a moment, and he brought out a Komoto dragon or something like that. But I wouldn't say they're weirdos. I would just say that their interests are a little bit weirder than mine.

They're individuals. Our producer, Mike Harrington, I think I believe he put a tweet out. So, Harrington, come and join the show, please, my friend. And a few questions from the fan base.

What's up, Iron Mike? Yes, all those coming in, man. Tons of them.

There actually was a lot. Hundreds and hundreds. So, Harrington, I'm assuming you've scoured them with a fine tooth comb to find the most intellectual questions, of course.

I figured I would lobby up a softball to begin with. Better wrestling program, Mizzou or Penn State? Gosh, man.

I think I'm going to make him pick against us.

Logically, Penn State is just freaking so dang good. But obviously, I believe black and gold to the day I die. But Penn State is a better program, let's be honest. But Mizzou is on its way.

All right.

Hell, yeah. Okay, let's see here. Emilio wants to know, what's the biggest take away from having two boys now instead of one? And what advice would you give someone who's always trying to work out? Great question. So as far as the boys, the boys go, man, just the dad guilt that they don't tell you about before you have kids, it adds a little bit to that. Not to dampen the mood, but the guilt of like, have I done enough? Am I doing enough? Am I raising these boys right? But also bringing in the second also makes you very, very thankful for the first because obviously he's not your only child anymore. But then he's going through the growing pains of, hey, do you even love me anymore? Seems like you got to take care of this little BLOB of cryingness all the time. So the jealousy stuff comes in. So you're just dealing with these new little challenges. But having two gives you double the purpose and double the why. I love it. And then as far as somebody who works all the time, show yourself the grace. You're not going to have great days every single day.

Just making sure you do something. And the number on the scale isn't the most important thing as long as you're feeling the best you possibly can. Hell yeah.

One more, Hamilton.

Oh, one more? All right, I got to do this then, just because we had, I don't know, roughly 40 of these come through. Michael, what do you think of Arman Sarukian's recent call out? What he said about you having the lowest fight IQ? And how do you think a match up between the two of you would go? I didn't respond because I haven't even seen him fight, so not disrespecting or whatever.

Shane, throw more.

Of R ooy.

That's the most respectful, disrespectful thing I've ever heard. Listen, I don't even know who the fuck.

He is. That's not what I said.

Who the fuck is.

That guy? Who's going to fight? I know he's in the fight. I know he fought Gamrot. I haven't really seen Gamrot fight either. I appreciate the call out. That's exactly what I would do if I was him. But no, thanks, man. I'm over here talking about Conner and Tuff. You think I'm worried about freaking Harmon Sarukin with the tea. What's with the silent T at the beginning.

Of this thing? Seriously, Sarucing with.

The T? To Sarucing.

When I seen that before I went on.

It was a good call out for him, though. He was calling at me. But that's not how he did it.

It was a great call out, but I disagreed with what he said when I read it. And I almost wanted to respond because I sat there, ringside, right behind Rogen and watched you fight Poirier. And so I think I said this on the post, though, that I could see the internal battle that you were having with yourself. I think you get this fight IQ argument all the time. He doesn't have a fight IQ. I watched you know the right decision to make and then purposely go the other direction because that was more exciting and more violent and more...

Which one? When?

With Poirier. When? Would have been the second round? Would have been the second round. Would have been the second round.

Second round, I took him down and held him down the whole time, right?

Was it the first round you got the take down? And then he started to scramble up. And instead of Matt returning him, you decided to let him go so you could land a big shot.

Yeah. Well, I think regrettably as a world-class wrestler, I would say, or at least a world-class American wrestler and a guy who had one of the coolest suplexes ever on Vince and Henderson, that was a really crappy Matt return. I think I was like half suplex, oh, wait, it's a mat return. Oh, wait, my foot rolled a little bit and I basically lost balance and fell and I was not happy about that. So maybe that's what you're talking about.

And it could be. I can see watching you that you just you I could see you getting wrapped up into the moment and just living in the moment you guys were in. And then in the second round, it's like, all right, there's the game plan. All right, let's get the takes on this. When the position that we're in right now, I don't know. I just never have a great read with the fight IQ part of it. I think there's other battles going on there. And of course, you can't say all that in a tweet. So I didn't want to. Well, that's his business.

Well, number one, thank you for almost coming to my defense. Number two, thank you for playing. Well, you know what you're saying what you said. I appreciate it. It's also awesome, too. I mean, it's beautiful that people can sit there in their armchair quarterback position and say, This guy should have made this decision or make that decision. And we're making split second decisions with the best information that we have or we're making such a bad decisions. It's part of it, man.

Isn't that beautiful, M ike? Because the sport has grown so much that we experience that these days. You know what I mean? Obviously, with the exposure comes the good and the bad. We'll let you go on this and thanks for your time, Mike. Really appreciate it. Wonderful talking to you. Getting to know you a little bit better. And I'm sorry if I put you on the spot a little bit here, but I feel like you'd be the type of guy that has something good to say about this. First of all, let us know about this fitness app that you're working on. So please tell us all about that. But also we have a lot of men, obviously young men that watch this podcast and we have a nice little community and we often have questions that come in from people that are struggling in life. They're struggling to find their place, they don't know what to do with themselves, they may be going through depression or something like that. What would you say to a young man out there that's lost, that's struggling to find his way in life, that trying to turn things around?

Have you got any words of wisdom? I feel like you have.

I do. Yeah. No, thank you for asking. First of all, you have my fitness app. People have been talking to me about it for years. I put all these workouts on Instagram, like, hey, when are you coming out of your programs? I finally did it. Walkonfit. Com, and we have an app, Walk on Fitness. And that will, in turn, also have a diet and a mindset component. I'm sitting here in my studio. I got my microphones here. I get on the mic and I want to bring value to people because I do think, anybody who's struggling with self image or doubt or depression, I've dealt with all of these things. Imagine the cognitive dissonance of a guy who sits here and tells people that I want to be a world champion and be under the bright lights, which comes with the lights, the money, the fame, all the things that I say that I want. Yet I still have this little guy from the little town telling me, no, you shouldn't do that. That makes you a bad person. Who are you to go out there and do those things? I've even had seasons of my life, guys, when I've been on top of the world where I've been at my lowest point because the devil and the enemy has always come to kill, steal, and destroy, especially when you are at your best and when you're at the top of the mountain.

That's when you're at your most vulnerable because he knows right where your trinks and your armor are. The best thing that you can do when you lose that clarity, when we talk about depression, we talk about lack of self image, we talk about, I don't know what to do next. A lot of times it's a clarity problem. And breaking the trust to yourself day in and day out by not doing the things that you need to do or not checking enough things off of the list that you need to get done to make yourself successful is the easiest way to get yourself out of that slump. So a couple of practical things. I had a rough go after this fight because of the fight and then some other things that I'm just going through. Lack of clarity, right? Whenever I started taking control of my day, waking up earlier than my family, waking up at 545, getting in my devotional, visualizing and getting in my journal and saying thank you every morning and thank you every night. And then I'm doing things like my cold plunges, doing things like making sure I'm working out, making sure I do these certain things that I can check off the list.

Is journaling going to make me the best in the world or waking up at 545? Is that really going to make a huge difference for me in my life? I don't know. For me, it has. But it's one thing that I can check off the box, can check off the list that says I can trust Michael Chandler. I can trust me to get this, this, and this done. Because as you guys have seen, the brightest light is your greatest moment of opportunity. You have to be able to trust yourself. If you can't trust yourself in the small things, you're never going to be able to trust yourself in the huge, the large, the exponential under the brightest light. A lot of times it's depression and lack of self image or the pain or the self deprecating thoughts because of lack of clarity. Give yourself permission to check off the boxes every single day by practical little things that you can do to gain trust in yourself and watch it compound itself. Because if you want to be trusted in the big things, you have to first be trusted in the small things.

Wow. I love that. Very well said.

As.

You say there, it's all about routine and discipline to a certain degree, it really is. I think that's a beautiful place to end, M ike. Thank you very much on behalf of myself, Anthony, all the believers. Anthony could speak for himself. He's like, S hut up, Bitspink. I could say thank you. Mike, can't wait to see you back in the octagon doing what you do. I believe you and Anthony are teaming up on the post fight or the prefight.

Yeah, are you there on the ninth.

The February ninth? Yeah, I'm in Bristol.

Nice. Yeah, I'll be up.

There too. Yeah, I'll be there. Yeah, we should have a little hang out.

We're talking about Zebras and stuff. Perfect. Zebras. Perfect.

I can't wait.

Amazing. Well, you're the man, Mike. Thanks so much, man. Take care, buddy. Thanks again for joining us. Almost talking to you.

Appreciate you guys. Thank you.

Take care, brother.