Let me ask you, Paul, what did you make all week leading up to it? Teporia was so confident, changed his bio. He was making a documentary about how he was going to become champion of the world, said he was going to knock him out in round one. What was your thoughts on all of that?

Man, at first, I'm one of those guys. I've always been a pretty humble guy. So when I see that stuff, I just put myself in those shoes, and I could never do that because I've never been that confident. My God, I wish I had the confidence that somebody like Tuporia or somebody like Connor has, but that's just never been me. But man, I've got some friends that are big fans of the UFC and gamble a lot, and a lot of my friends in the know, they were on the Tuporia Hype train. They believed that he was going to get it done. And I kept arguing, it's recency bias. You're looking at Volk coming off of a knockout to a bigger guy, blah, blah, blah. But my God, dude, he's good. And we knew he was good, but he's got the swagger. He's got the confidence that he showed. He really is setting himself up to be that next big thing and living in Spain, wanting to bring the UFC there. I know Dana said he's interested in trying to get the company over there. I want to go to Spain.

Me too.

I have no problem with that. Let's go to Spain. No issues. But I like this kid, man. I got to hang out with him after he fought Jai Herbert in London for a little bit in his room. It was me and 40 other dudes from his camp, though. It was an interesting party that was going in that room, drinking champagne. Tepori was like, Dress shirt, all these gold chains. But he just carries some confidence, man. Even when I was talking to him in London last year, he just exudes confidence. He believed in himself, and he Got it done. I can't believe he got it done as early as he did, too. It looked like Volk was figuring things out a little bit. They were having some nice exchanges, but that boy can crack, Michael.

Man, it was the exact same right hook that he floored Jai Herbert with. That thing is powerful. And the crazy thing is, speaking about his potential, we only saw one part of his game. I mean, the UFC did that fantastic little package all about his build-up. Did you see it where they had him dressed as like a a goal fighter and stuff? That was fantastic. Wrestling at four years old, high-level jiu-jitsu. I mean, the man can do it all at the highest level. As you said, the mindset, the confidence, and then to knock out Volk like that, to floor him. And Volk, he was out for quite some time. He was really scary. I know he said that. I had a feeling that it was going to be a hard fight for Volk, but I didn't expect that. I didn't see Volkanovski crumpled on the floor. And he even said, I'm going to stumble and then crumble him. The man's a sound bite machine.

Listen, I've seen all the comparisons to him and Connor recently. The tattoos, the swagger, even grabbing the belt like Conor did against Jose Aldo. Aldo. The same thing. When they put them side by side, it's like, holy crap. I mean, this kid is just taking the template, taking what do I got to do to become a superstar. First of all, we both know this, you got to have it first before you do any of that other nonsense. And you can't take that away from Teporia or even Connor when he was in his prime. You can talk all the talk. You can do all the stuff at the press conference. You can be loud, you can be brash, but you got to show up and get the job done. And he did that. I mean, the guy looks the part, he talks the talk, but then he walked the walk and went out there and put away Volk the way he did. I mean, in a lot of ways, he did it even more impressively. I don't know, head kick knockout from Islam. But he did it with Volk on a full camp. At least when Islam did it, weight class difference, short notice fight, big weight cut for Volk, coming off surgeries.

Volk was right to I have all the excuses in the world going into that second fight with Islam. This time, prepared, had a little time off, and he said it, no excuses. I got caught up against the fence where I knew I couldn't be with this guy. But Tuporia, he doesn't rush things, man. He just walked down using the jab a little bit, setting things up. And then when he lands, look out.

I mean, it was phenomenal. It really was. Wokunowski says he wants to rematch him against straight away, which I understand, of course. We were talking about it a little bit on the end of the broadcast. I get it as a fighter. Of course you do. You want to get back in there and you want to fight for the belt again. You want to take back what was yours. And of course, the pay days and all the rest of it, everything that comes with becoming champion. But more importantly, he wants to do it because he wants to be the champion. Never mind the money, the fame, the accolades, revenge. I'm the champ. I'm the goddamn champion. I want to fight for that belt and right the wrongs. But now coming off the back of two stoppages in a row.

Two bad ones, too, Michael. Two bad ones.

Three out of his last four. I mean, that puts Volk at a big disadvantage going into that rematch if it does, in fact, take place.

Yeah, I agree. And I thought the same thing when I saw him saying, Okay, I want the rematch. And you're goddamn right. Of course, he does, right? That he's a competitor. And he's the greatest featherweight. And for all that to get taken away from you after all these fights with Islam, then this fight, it's got to be so frustrating. You were the goat. You were one of the guys that we're talking about, just hands down best featherweight, unbelievable, the who's who, he's beating everybody. But age, man, it just happens. It doesn't happen gradually for everybody either. It can just be almost seemingly overnight. And I feel like that's what we're witnessing is he's now, what, 37?

No, I think he's 35.

Is he only 35?

He's not that old. No, no, no. He's much that and done.

No, I mean, 35 is definitely not that old. Or even 37 is not that old.

No.

But I'll tell you what, at 39, almost 40 myself, it made me go, I don't know. I'm not talking a lot about a comeback. I slowed my roll a little bit on that when you see these young guys like Tuporia, man. It's like, holy crap.

Let me ask you, Paul, did you ever get knocked out?

Not like that, no. I mean, I got more of my damage, probably in sparring, than I ever did in the cage, luckily. But I definitely took some head kicks and stuff throughout the years in training, training with Cowboy over the years.

Oh, no, I'm sure. The reason I asked that is because I did on multiple occasions. And definitely, regardless of however tough we all say we are, we think we are, when it comes to it on the night, when you've just been stopped, when you've been knocked out in your fight before, there's a little bit of doubt in the mind because no longer You're not invincible. You know you're only a human being, and the entire world does. More importantly, so does your opponent. They know you can be hurt. And now, as I say, two times in a row. So for Volkanovski, listen, I get it, but I'm not going to say, Don't do that. He's an incredible fighter. He was the pound for pound number one. But I'd say, take some time off. Only 35, I'd say take a year off. Take a year off. Take six months off. Enjoy the spoils of your riches. Enjoy all your success. Spend some time with the family and come back hungry as a dog. Maybe let Teporia defend it against someone else in the meantime, because Teporia probably wants to stay active.

But yeah, we're going to see a rematch.

I agree.

I think I think taking a little time, hanging out with that family, letting the body rest up. I mean, he's been busy. He's been trying. But he mentioned it himself after that loss to Islam, that that's what he struggles with. It's the time in between. It's the time when he doesn't have a training camp. It's when he doesn't have a goal. So he needs to find something. I think this is a good time for him to go and figure out, okay, there is a cap. There is a ceiling to how long I can do this stuff. What am I going to do when it is finally He's got a lot of money done. I'm not saying to retire now. He's still got a lot of fight left in him. But maybe it's time to figure out what other things can I do? What am I going to do when I'm done making money through fighting? Is it coaching? Is it just staying in the gym? He's got to find ways to fill that time so that he doesn't lose his mind like he has been in the past.

So we'll see what he does. You're absolutely right. You bring up a fantastic point because when you are going from fight to fight to fight, you don't have time to think about anything else because it's all, what's the word? All consuming one 100 %. Now he is going to have some time. So, yeah, think about that. I'm sure a man like Boc has got a ton of options in Australia. Ridiculous popularity, the sports booming out there. He could run a gym. He's got money to invest in businesses and stuff like that, defending the belt five times, being a part of seven world title fights. He'll have plenty of cash. So there's lots of options for it. But regarding the point what you said about it eats away him and he wants to get back in there, it's going to be even worse now because that's why it was eating away at him. Because Paul, I say this all the time, this is our egos. It's our goddamn egos why we want to compete, why we want to fight. Yeah, of course, there's the business side of it. Of course, there is. But we think we can do it.

We think that we're the man. We We think we should rightfully be the champion of the world, so therefore I'm going to come back and I'm going to fight. So if that was an issue before, that's going to be compounded. It's going to be even worse for Valt now.

Yeah, that's why I think hopefully he can reflect, right? I I think emotions run high, especially right after a fight, press conferences. Even the week after, he's going to be talking about he wants to get that fight back. But I think if he sits down with his family, sits down with the coaches, maybe they can slow his role I'm going to be like, Listen, we're not saying you're not going to do that right away, but let's just take a couple of weeks and let everything settle. Let's see how you're feeling. Let's see how the head's feeling. Because a lot of times, especially after shots like that, you might feel all right for a little bit, but he might want to just chill out for a little bit and reassess everything as he calms down from the emotions of the fight. But you're right, dude. A guy like Volk, somebody that's just been the best for so long, it's going to drive him crazy If he doesn't figure out now how to deal with these times in between fights.

Now, let me ask you this, Paul, and this seems like a weird thing to bring you on a podcast and ask about. You had an incredible career. You beat some legends, Charles Oliveira. I mean, the list goes on. What was your worst loss? And the reason I'm asking that is because to like it in the Vox situation. For me, clearly, the UFC 100 fight against Dan Henderson where I got flatland, that was my toughest loss. And yet to deal with that, I didn't process I see. And I did what I think a lot of fighters do. You bury it inside. It's fine, whatever. You move on. Shit happens. I got caught. It is what it is. But then eventually, one day later on, it caught up with me emotionally and whatnot. But what about you? What was your toughest moment?

That's a good question. And I got a pretty clear one. It was when I moved up to 170 and I fought Mike Perry, when Cormier fought Steepay, we were like one of the featured bouts on that card, dude. And I went to battle with that guy. And obviously, the dude, as we see now as bare-knuckle champion, Savage, hits like a truck, man. He's not a huge guy, but I've never been hit like that at lightweight, harder than when Mike Perry hit me. I broke my ulnar bone really bad, so I had a snapped ulnar bone, so I couldn't move my arm at all. I had cuts all over my face, all in my hairline, just covered in blood. I've got some crazy pictures in the ambulance where it looked like I was a corpse. I was all pale. I was concussed like crazy. It was the same thing. A couple of days later, I just couldn't... Emotions were getting the best of me. I couldn't control everything. So that's why I knew that one was bad. I remember coming back home with Christine, and then you're doubting everything. I didn't have to take that fight.

I took that fight because I had lost my opponent, James Vick, who got moved to another card. I rushed into it. I was like, I can fight at 170. And then it's the most damage to the head that I've taken in a fight.

It's a bitch, isn't it? Because as you said, you didn't need to take that fight. And a lot of the time, like with Bulk Against Islam in the second one, didn't need to take the fight.

And then you start saying, what if I didn't? What if I had just rested up, said no to the UFC then, then you get this Tupourya fight, but you haven't been knocked out, you haven't gone through any of that? You know that's what's going to be mine, right? What if I didn't take that first one or the second The first one was competitive, awesome fight. Then that second one, man, he thought that was his destiny, and it wasn't. Then this one, he's like, No, this is my destiny to do this, and you get knocked out.

It's like-And that's when the self-loathing starts to come in. Oh, my God. And everybody told me. My manager said it. My wife said, Don't do it. Don't do it. You're like, I got this, mate. Don't worry about it. Well, rest up, Bulk. You're an absolute bloody legend.

He's the man, dude. That's one of those things. It's sad for any MMA fan. If you're not a fan of Volkanovski, I don't know what your issue is. You know what I mean? He's such a good dude. He's such a badass family guy, girl, dad, all the things. And it's tough to see him take a couple of big losses.

And the popularity. I mean, in the arena, when they showed his face on the screen or anything like that, the place just lit up. The energy from the crowd was absolutely phenomenal. So he's loved. There's lots to be positive about, but we always dwell on the bad things. It's just human nature. He's had an incredible career. He defended the belt five times. He's got a beautiful family to go home to. Money in the bank. Money in the bank, for sure.Opportunities going forward. Oh, definitely. Money in the bank. I mean, when he fought in Perth, he flew there by a private jet. You know what I mean? He's got money in the bank. That's for damn sure.