Fuller up. You're listening to the guest.

Conceive, believe, achieve. Shut the fuck up.

You're listening to Believe You Me with.

Michael the.

Count, Big Bing, and Anthony Lionheart Smith.

All right, ladies and gentlemen, no Anthony Smith today because he has stepped up like a G on two weeks' notice. I'm going to talk about that. But today we've got a big show planned. We do have Cheetoh Barrett who's fighting Sean O'Malley. We have the interim champ, Tom Aspenol. And we have half of this weekend's main event, O'Neal Darouche. Harrington is here. Harrington, you're looking slimmer, bro.

I'm trying, man. We're getting fit. I'm going to be a six-pack by summer 2024.

Am I seeing a little bit of definition in the arms? Am I seeing what seems to be, or is he just like the blubber subsiding onto the top of the shirt? Or am I seeing a bit of bicep? Just a.

Little bit. Just a.

Lot of there.

Come on.

Look at that. Looking good, brother. Looking good. So Friday after Thanksgiving, we all went for a family walk down the beach. We're walking along. And I got a text from Anthony. I think it was to the group, right? And he goes, Mike, are you commentating December ninth? I'm like, No, I'm commentating the second. No. And then that's it. I'm done for the year. And he never said why he asked that question. And then we carry on walking. And then 20 minutes later, Callum goes, Dad, look at this. Because he's looking at his phone quickly. And Dana did one of those announcements. He broke the news that Anthony Smith has stepped up. And as I'm sure you all know this by now. Next weekend, stepping up against Kaleel Roundtree Jr. And two and a bit weeks notice. I was just trying to get the math right. Yeah, just over two weeks notice. I mean, what a guy. I mean, that takes real balls. And some people might think, Why is he doing that? And I'll tell you why he's doing that. Because the man's a fighter. The man's a fighter. He's bred into it. It's the DNA.

And when these opportunities arise, are you going to be man enough to accept? So I text Antony and I asked him because I had some questions. Is that how's the fitness and things like that? He said, Well, I've still been training. I've still been training ever since the last fight, of course, not in training camp, but he's still been wrestling hard. In fact, I'll give you the exact quote. Here we go. Why piece it together? Hold on. Let's have a look. Anthony Smith, he says here, because I asked him specifically about training. He said, I've been asking for a fight for a while now, but he was asking to fight in January. But the way the division was there wasn't a lot of options. They told me to keep an eye on Kaleel Roundtree versus Azamat. That was the original opponent, of course. And potentially, he could fight the winner. I know that they've been interested in me versus Kaleel for a while. Once Azamat was out, nick called me and asked if I could fight Kaleel in Austria. In. I said, Yes. And they wanted him to fight this weekend, Austin, obviously. He said, I can't make 205 in six days.

I didn't want to risk another Brazil mishap. They came back, they said, Listen, we understand, of course. Could you make 205 the week after? And I said, Absolutely, and we are good to go. So then I asked him about conditioning. I said, How are you feeling conditioning-wise? He said, Short of the injuries that kept me out for a year, I'm always in pretty good shape. I'm wrestling heavy. I'm grappling, I'm cycling and I'm in the gym. I don't spa hard too much anymore, so the body feels healthy and I feel great physically. Timing wise, this makes a lot of sense. I'll be able to be fully present with my kids over Christmas and for their winter sports and not be in training camp through a large portion of it. Get to be another quick win in a position for a title, Eliminator. Money wasn't a big motivator, but let's be honest, another payday is always nice. And I got to say, I love that. I respect that. Kylille Roundtree, he's not an easy opponent. Not an easy opponent at all. What was your thoughts, Harrington?

My first thought was, okay, this is the only light, heavyweight in the top 10 that's taking three fights inside of a year. Currently, he's the only light, heavyweight in the top 10 who's coming off a win in the last year. And this would be two wins back to back. Just the way that it sets up and the narrative that one could write. I agree with Anthony. He is super close to a title fight, or the very least, the title eliminating with a win in this fight, especially given how we've seen how the last couple on Goliath fights have turned out. Who knows what's going to happen between the Rackitch and Bonhovitch fight? There's so much up in the air in this division right now that a big concrete win to close out the year puts him in pole position. So I was just hype when I saw it.

Yeah, and it's a three-round fight as well. I'm sure, Anthony, can do that. Not standing on his head because three rounds at a hard pace is tough for anybody, even if you're in shade. But just looking at Kaleel's record here, 12 and 5, currently on a four or five win streak, three of which are Stoppages, Chris Dawkins, Dustin Jacobi. So, of course, if he gets the job done, or when he gets the job done, should I say, he gets to get revenge for Dustin. Obviously, they're teammates, Carl Robertson and Modestas, The Kalskys. So a nice little win sheet that Kaleel is on, he'll steal that momentum and one step forward towards the ultimate goal of becoming the champion. I've got to say, I respect it. What was your thought, Brian? Welcome to the show as if you need welcoming, you're a backstage of the entire bloody thing.

I'm just excited for Anthony to get in a fucking a winning way and get his way back to a title. Or get his way back into a title shot rather.

Yeah, no, it's beautiful, man. It's beautiful. We're all behind you, Anthony. Go ahead, Hamilton.

I was going to say with 50 fights like Anthony has, like not many USC fighters do, could it be the, what is it, 15 days not having a long training camp where injuries do accumulate over time? Obviously, the wear and tear of a long career starts to show itself a little bit more once you're pushing your sofa the eight weeks. Could that 15-day window actually be a godsend for Anthony.

Yeah. Well, we always say that. I said that at length when I fought, Hold on short notice. Tom said that. He'll be joining us later. We won a fought, Serge Pavlovi, and he's well-known. You know what I mean? When you don't have that long training camp, you can't stress yourself out over it. You're trying to over train. You've got less time to accumulate injuries. When I say injuries, I mean little niggles that bother you throughout the thing that sometimes progress into something bigger because you keep training. Like, for example, you might hurt your hand and it's just a little bit hurt. It's not too bad. It's a bit swollen. But you carry on sparring. You carry on hitting pads and it just gets worse and worse and worse. And then sometimes you have to drop out. That's maybe a bad example, but it is an example of the thing that I'm talking about. So Yeah, man. Hey, listen, it takes big balls. It's a big balls move. It really is. He's rolling the dice. But it's an educated role. And to your point, having 50 fights or thereabouts, I'm not sure what the exact number is, I think when you're that experienced, it takes away the anxiety of the fight.

You know what I mean? Of course, there's always pressure. The pressure for Anthony, he's had so many fights, he's won some, he's lost some. The pressure is he wants to be the champion, and he hasn't given up on that. And he knows that by doing this, by being that guy that they can depend on, that he's stepping up, taking out Kaleel on a four-five-win streak, if you can go out there and do that, of course, puts him in a very favorable spot. It'll be a great win. And there's everything to play for. So yeah, you're right. I mean, Johnny Walker versus Magamed, that's the beam rebox, right?

Yeah, that's for January. And then, Lehovish versus Rackage is the other match-up of top 10.

Well, he's back in the mix then. Definitely back in the mix. So we're for him. So obviously, ladies and gentlemen, he's not here today because he's got one week of training and then he flies to Vegas. Here's what we're going to do. I haven't run this by you or by Brian, but I'm thinking, live stream, guys.

I.

Love the.

Sound of that. Oh, yeah. We'll definitely do that.

Just like we did last time. That's what we do. But Nantz is not here. We're going to show support, Marl support vicariously. We are in the octagon with him. But as I said, we have got a big show plan for us today. And in fact, if I'm not mistaken, we're about to be joined by the one and only Marl and get out of here, Harrington. Today's episode is sponsored by Water Boy that is essentially a hydration powder and electrolyte powder that tastes delicious. I'm telling you right now, I was drinking one through this episode. I've been drinking them a lot because drinking water alone will not hydrate you. If you just drink water, you're still going to feel thirsty. You need that correct amount of electrolytes. Certainly, if you're going out and you're having a few drinks, Water Boy, the hydration powder is scientifically formulated to cut your hangover time in half. There are other hydration packs on the market, but nothing comes anywhere close to fighting those hangovers like Waterboy. With zero sugar and over three times the electrolytes of liquid IV, your hangover stands no chance. Unlike their competitors, Waterboy has added specific ingredients beyond just hydration to help with nausea, anxiety, and fatigue.

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Looking smooth, as always, brother, look at this. Where are you? Some art studio?

I have my living room.

That's a very nice-looking living room, bro. Living room. How are you, man?

Good, man. Just happy for this big fight coming up and just, I can't wait to become world champion.

Well, we're going to get into all of that stuff. When you are champion of the world, are you going to buy yourself a nice little laptop and a proper camera and a microphone and maybe some anti-echo stuff for your room?

I'm probably going to spend more money in different things, but not on those three ways.

You're not out there trying to buy the latest USB microphones. I'm joking, of course. Itry not to be... Cita, I'm so happy for you, man. This is a long time coming for you. Obviously, a huge fight with Sugarshaw and Al-Mali. March, right?

March ninth, Miami.

Oh, it's Miami.

Yeah.

That's good. That's cool. I've never been to Miami.

I've been there just once, but very briefly, so hopefully I can explore a little more. But it's really close to Ecuador, so it's going to be like a home feeling for me. Really, it's like a two-hour flight. I had a good feeling about that.

Yeah, well, that's exactly what I was going to say. Only two hours away, you're going to have a lot of Ecuadorians in the house.

Oh, yeah, they're going to fucking be raging.

How is the vibe back in Ecuador? Because I know obviously, is it another one? There's Michael Morales. He's Ecuadorian. Is he just you now?

Yeah, just the two of us.

Represented, holding it down.

We're going to do our best there. We're going to just do the best way you can and go hard.

We were hoping to speak to you a couple of weeks ago out in New York because you had a face-off with Sean O'Malley. How was that experience? Obviously, when you go face-to-face and you're trying to look into each other's eyes and all the rest of it, but to use a cliched question, what did you see when you looked into his eyes?

He's a very talented guy. He can find everything. But I said it before and I will say it again, he won't keep up on a hard fight. He's a guy that he moves well and he plans on use his athletics and I'm going to make him fight. He will have to face me. I'll be ready, I'll be prepared. I just know the moment we start fighting, I know what it is to be there. I know everything I've been through. I'm going to get that bell. I'm going to go through him. I'm going to stop him. I'm going to be world champion.

It's nice to hear that you say he is a very good fighter because he is, right? He's a champion for the reason.

Yeah, he's a good fighter.

I.

Would never... He is not my team, put in a mask and said, Chuck in crazy shit like you suck at me. And then after that, I was like, Actually, I respect him. No, I like to go from the beginning of the case like, Fuck you. I know you can fight. I get it. But I'm going to do my job. I'll be ready and I'm meeting the center.

This is a big fight. Sean's a massive star. You've got a huge following as well. I know there's been a fair bit of back and forth between the two of you. Obviously, you're the only person that has a victory over him already. How was it at that Sturry Down? Was it intense? Was there a bit of shit talk? Is the rivalry still as intense as what it was?

I mean, to me, it's just another fire. I'm going to bring the most dense energy there and I'm going to be as mean as I can possibly be and I'm going to really attempt to hurt him at all times. But the face-off, it's not a real face-off. There's security in there. A real face-off will be like whatever happens, happens. You can say whatever you want to try to get it to each other's head. But to me, it was just like, Hey, come on. Look me in the eye. Fuck you. He's not going to talk the way he talks online, on real life, face-to-face. We all know that. People like that doesn't say that type of shit face-to-face. I was in front of him. I didn't hear anything. I was just like, Cool. Take a picture. Fuck off.

This moment for you was always Destin Cheater. I know how hard you work, and we talk about it all the time. You are one of the most disciplined guys. For example, when we left New York, I went to the airport, I'm sitting down, I'm getting a steak. Who walks in the restaurant? The one and only Cheater of era. We sit down together. What did you say to me? I'm going to get home and you're starting a 72-hour fast the next day. Did you do the 72-hour fast?

Yeah, I did.

Why?

Because you to reset yourself to clean yourself to get rid of inflammation, get rid of testosterone, get rid of stem. When your body goes through any hard things like these like sauna, ice, fasting, it releases good cells to help anywhere. To me, just the health. How healthy can you be? The more healthy I am, the more hard I can train and fight. If we're already doing something that is really bad for our health in fighting, might as well live our lives the best we can. I just read a lot about health and how to get better, what type of food. That's what I really dislike and would like to punch cheaters in the face because you can do it the right way if you live your life right. If you're looking for easier ways or shortcuts, you won't make it. Talking about that, this guy already tested positive before. I mean, it was a nice thing. I don't know.

Oh, I forgot about that.

Yeah, he did. That's one of our first five-year-old cancer. He just posted a few times. Now they call it micro. It's a little thing, but that little thing could be because you were cleaning yourself or because you're an idiot and you don't know how to read the ingredients or you don't add your side about it. But that's just another topic.

Yeah, that is another topic, and I don't know much about it. When I said, Why would you do that? I was being silly, of course. I know why you would do it. But that's just what I really do respect about you, Chito. I mean, you are so disciplined, you know what I mean? I do believe that this day was destiny. I've seen for years how hard you work. I've seen the slow, steady rise over the years. You know what I mean? It's been quite the journey.

I mean, man, coming from New York, trying to figure it out how to get better, come to the US, try to put a win-win together, try to feel it on my life, get everything done right, make sure my family's good, get a home. It's just non-stop. Just keep trying. Get the positive out of here, keep moving forward. It just feels good to accomplish things and feels good to keep moving forward in life because what it's all about. What we're doing here is we're not trying to find a better life or just do better things and just live the best life you can. Why not?

No, of course. That's what it's all about, right? Taking the skills that you have and giving your family the best you can possibly do. You are a natural fighter. You can see that. Every time you fight, I'm just looking at your record right now, never be knockedout, never been submitted, never been finished, and you have taken some shots, let's be honest. I mean, you have a chin, Cheeto. Would you say you've got the best chin in the Bantonway division?

I hope so.

I'd say it's up there, definitely.

It's up there, yeah. I mean, that's going back to health. The healthier you are, the more hard things you can do. Fighting is probably one of the hardest thing on there. He's just making sure I'm just disciplined because motivation comes along. One day you wake up and you want to be fitness, and then the next day you wake up and you're crying. That happens. It's life. But it's discipline over anything. This is what I have to do. This is what I'm going to do. Don't get off. Have fun here and there. I do that. I'm not a fucking angel. But live the best you can. And that helps with this. That helps with your risk. And with everything.

Yeah, no, of course it does. I'm being in good shape as well. That obviously helps the ability to take a shot and recover nice and quick. Is that something because you are so, I'll say the word, obsessed. I think you're obsessed. Would you agree?

Yeah, I am. I won the World Champion more than anything else in Lifeline. That's what I won. I want it really bad. I haven't stopped this far at all. I haven't slowed down. I haven't stopped thinking about it. When March and I come, I'll be ready. I'll be ready. I'm going to be there. I'm going to go hard. I'm going to take my time. I'm going to do everything I have to get this built. It will be a great night. March ninth, I'm a world champion.

March ninth. I can't wait for it. Hopefully, I'll be there. Obviously, you've already beat this guy. You stopped him in round one. Everyone talked about it. Everyone saw it. Started with the calf kick, which was a legitimate kick. I know he discredits it, but he's going to do his thing. Then it was elbows, right? You finished him with elbows.

Yeah, Qo.

I was always in the mouth.

I mean.

To me, if I kick your leg and your leg fell you, that's not my problem. If I hit you in the liver and you go down, good for me. If I hit you in the mouth and you fall asleep, God bless. It is what it is. I was never bothered about it. I don't really care. The guy talks often. He replied to my shit. I don't even see it most of the time. If somebody called me or somebody texted me, I screach, and I'm like, I am on social media, but I'm not trapped on it. I'm not reading every comment. I don't really give a fuck. And that really gives me mental freedom, give me a better health of my spirit. I'm not worried about people say or the media saying who they are, what they have done. I don't give a fuck. I do what I do. And if I become successful doing what I do, that's all I need to know.

Is there a certain element? And the only reason I bring this up is because Anthony Smith went through the same thing recently. By the way, I don't know if you saw it. He's not here today because he just took a fight on two weeks notice, he's fighting Kaleel Roundry, so shout out, Anthony. But I'm going to bring this up because he brought this up. He fought Ryan Span, fought him the first time, wiped him out, finished him earlier. Then going into the rematch, he felt a little bit of pressure because he was like, Man, it's going to be really hard to outdo the way that I beat him the first time. Has that thought entered your mind at all?

I said this before. Every fight is different. I'm not expecting what happened on the first fight to happen. I'm not expecting anything. I'll be just ready to fight a new fight on a new day. I'm not thinking about it, Oh, I beat him once. Itry to put that type of fresh on myself. I don't know how to do that. I used, to me just another day, another night. We're going from scratch again. I just got to do it again. Simple as that.

I can't wait for it. Obviously, you're very well-rounded. You're known for your striking, but you got a lot of submissions. You know from your but you've got a lot of submissions. You've got some beautiful wrestling, and you got very creative submissions, nice backtakes as well. What's the approach going to be in this one? Because I think most people will expect this to play out on the feet and be a good old-fashioned, keep boxing match. I don't expect to give away any strategies, but what fight are you expecting?

I mean, he moves a lot. He's a lot of movement. He moves really well. He likes to dissect you by faint. He's a good counterpunch. Rarely, he goes after and he goes and look for the fight. Maybe if he's a real man and he's really pissed and he want to prove himself, he will meet me in the middle, we'll see. But if he moves a lot, I think like this, and I can say this out loud, I don't even need to chase him. If he's moving backwards, what about if I move backwards? I'm like, Fuck you. Or I sit on the ground and you come to me. Fighting can go so many crazy ways, and every little thing comes. To me, it's like I'm expecting fighting a quick, taller guy. That's what really is going to come to it. Then how the game plan goes? We'll see, but I'll be ready to fight. I can chase a chicken and I can run away from anything. We'll be there. We'll be ready -to do that.

Can you catch a chicken? Because Rocky couldn't.

I'm like Rocky.

Rocky couldn't catch it.

But he won the fight, so fuck it.

Exactly. That's all that matters. It's interesting what you said there about... Because I always see fighters. I was trying to think of it. There was a fight recently, I apologize. I can't remember who he was. They were going after their opponent and their opponent was counterstriking. He kept going forward the whole time, the whole time, the whole time. I was like, All right, all right. What this person needs to do is stop going forward and let this person come to them a little bit. Do you find yourself having these thoughts? Because obviously you work on the Spanish broadcast as well for South America. How do you enjoy that, by the way?

I love to do commentary. It's fun. Honestly, I like to watch fights live. If it were to add to me, I would go to every event on Saturday morning and watch the fight. But sometimes travel, it takes a lot of view. But honestly, I would go every weekend to watch the fight.

If I- No, me too. Yeah, we've got Tom Aspinol joining us later. I'm sure you were there in Madison Square Garden. Tom doesn't watch any of the fights. Doesn't watch them at all. I find that bizarre, but he's just like he's doing his thing. He trains. But yeah, he's not a fan.

That's crazy. I watched since the very first fight of the night. I did that for the last probably 10 years. I go very first fight and I sit until the minute's over.

Yeah. I do it mainly just as a fan. Obviously, it's nice to watch and you see some things and all the rest of it, but I love this sport. I think loving this and being obsessed is the same thing. In your mind, how does this fight finish? Obviously, you're going to see your arm getting raised. But in your dream of dreams, in your wildest fantasy, how does this go down?

I beat the fuck out of him. I walk away with a bag of cash and the bell.

What's better? First round knockout or five round systematic beatdown?

Fuck, either one. I really believe I'm going to make him quit. I really believe I'm going to make him just be a shell of himself and just kick his ass. Just like, almost like, beg me to stop thing.

Yeah. What's Perillo's thoughts?

I mean, we're in the same page. I mean, the guy is a great athlete. He showed some of the skills of the Jan five, but I mean, Jan is just very little. It was a perfect matchup for him to go there. I mean, you go from a no-contest to more than just to pure jam, and that's a crazy jump. But it plays on benefits of the person that got nothing to lose.

Were you surprised when he knocked? Sorry, go on.

I mean, he's quick. He had good still on the right-hand, and he's really good at catching you coming in. But at the level of striking that somebody like Algeman is, you know what I'm saying? Head in the middle, just swinging left and right. You don't even seeing the target. That's just a very poor, low-level striking game. He's just another guy that is so good of an athlete, very good resident that he managed to figure it out how to just go like a zombie and get a hold of your leg. With me, it's different. I'm making math in my head in there.

Were you surprised? Because, as you say, O'Malley is a nice striker. He got some great skill. He's very fast. But generally, when he beats people, he wears them down. You know what I mean? I'm just looking at his record right now. I mean, Julien Paiva, I mean, that was a short notice, finished him in round one, but he hit him about, I don't know. He teed off on his head a lot. Chris Matinho, the same thing. Thomas Almeida took him to the third round. Were you shocked when he won, shot at Al Jamey and Sterling?

Not really. Just the way Al Jamey was fighting. You can run to people like that. This is not rest. This is not grappling. I mean, he was really running forward, like desperate. I mean, you fight like that. I mean, Derek Bronson make mistakes like that. He fights crazy like that. I'm there to get a hold of you. And I'm like, Yeah, that's cool. But I'm like, right in front of you with a good base. And I'm like, Let me see what you got. I know I can fight. I know I can be in the pocket without panicking. I have the right energy when I'm in there. But if you see that shoot, he didn't even saw that punch. He was like, Run, run, run. And typically, he's a step back and throw.

But I mean- Yeah. Why did you think Al Jamey did that? Because you're right. Because Al Jamey has been in there. Obviously, he was the champ. He defended it, what, two or three times. Do you think he was intimidated by Sean? Do you think maybe the persona, the height, the reach, the striking? I think.

The rainbow blued him in his eyes. I mean, he was.

Fighting with the crowd. The rainbow?

Yeah, I think the rainbow is blurred with him a.

Little bit. The huh?

Everything. I mean, he was fighting with the fans in the crowd. I mean, when the press conference, Yeah, go crazy at your opponent, but he was really talking shit to the crowd. That's how focused are you on other things. I don't give a fuck if my car is like, Fuck you. I'm like, You don't fucking fit my family. Suck my dick. This is for my family. If the car is fuck me, I don't care. I mean, he was just I really believe he just show up and got a nice check because he was champion of his points. I think he got a little cough in him. This didn't seem serious about him the way he approached the fight. He wasn't dialed in. In my opinion, I could be wrong. I don't know. I don't even know the guy. But he was like when I saw him arguing with the crowd, I was like, You might be fucked.

Distracted. The fight's what? March seventh, you said?

ninth.

Sorry, March ninth. March ninth was still in November. You've got over three months. You've known about this for a little bit now as well. How do you stop yourself? I know you're always in the gym, but for me, over training was a real issue because we want it, and you're not afraid of hard work. How do you stop yourself from overdoing it between now and March ninth?

I feel like that's when Porello came in clutch. He used to go, Hey.

For.

The next five days or three days, do whatever you want. Chill, rest I mean, I know. That doesn't mean go drink and go party. That means go home, do a little bit of running, do a little bit of lifting, but don't really do much. I mean, he's really good at like, he just told me what? He said, Hey, next week, relax. I say, Oh, good. Then you go back to training, and then you feel better. Things are faster. Your mind is more on it. I mean, That's why he's as good as the coach. He is. He knows when to go down. He knows when to ramp up.

Yeah, of course. And recovery- Go ahead.

He does a great job there. He told me when to stop at all and I want to do less.

And.

When it's time to pick up, I'm just ready to go.

Yeah. I say it all the time. One of the favorite things that he used to say, and I've mentioned it many times, is it takes confidence to take a day off. You know what I mean? I'm sure he tells you the same thing.

Yeah, exactly. We talk all the time about we did some mistakes last night when we were talking about it, and I was like, I sometimes, he's just go and say, Hey, you're feeling good. Sporting looks good. Now, chill.

Yeah, that must be nice. You've got the biggest fight of your life. It's going to be a lot of people watching. I think this is going to do big numbers in the pay-per-view. You're a big star. Sean's a big star. At the end of this, all goes well. You're going to be champion of the goddamn world. I mean, how good does that sound? Cheetovera, the quantum weight champion of the goddamn world.

Sounds fucking good, man. Sounds really good.

You've got a lot of time and you're going to be taking it easy because you're way ahead of the game already. You're going to be saunering. You're going to be ice-bathing, you're going to be stretching, you're going to be 72-hour fasting. You're basically living in a health spa for the next three months.

I'm in sun and ice out there ready to go. It's a wellness club. I want to enjoy my money when I'm rich in few years. Some people just work, work, work, and then they got to pay doctors to give them a few more months. This is the most important part, keeping this healthy, keeping this good.

That's what it's all about. My morning routine these days. I get up this morning. I did 30 minutes on the peloton, 20 minutes on the rower, lifting my weights, chest and traps on a Tuesday, on a Monday. But I'm one day ahead of the game because I started yesterday. Then I do the sauna and then I get in the ice bath. How long do you do in the ice bath?

I go between three or five minutes.

Twelve minutes, bro.

Twelve?

I do 12, yeah.

You're crazy. I mean, it's good for you. Because I do like 30, 35 minutes in the sauna, and then I do three, fives in the ice. But sometimes I just do just ice and that's it. And that also help building other things. But it's very important doing those things. The sun just flushes you off. Your skin gets nice and glowsy. Your health. I'm telling you, man.

Yeah. I put a little tweet out before about questions for Cheeto. Someone said, What's going on with Action Bronson singing you on your walk out? Is this happening?

They used to say no before because I get it. They say it sounds very good, and the U. C. Is very clean cut looking, you know what.

I'm saying?

If they have the rapper there, there's more people and mics. I'm guessing it would be no again, but that would have been cool.

But that's cool. You have a relationship with him because he's a very cool guy. I hear what they're saying. It is a little messy because the U. F. C. Production, it's world-class. It really is. That's a shame, though. You never know. Maybe they could do something like what they did for Connor and Aldo. It never happened. But remember, what was it meant to be?

They were in the.

Corner in Vegas. Yeah, it was Shanejo Connor. Was it Shanead O'Connor?

Did she do it? I think she just passed away.

Yeah, she did, sadly. And then who did he fight? They had someone. But whatever, who gave it to who? Chad Mendez.

Aaron Lewis from Stained.

Stained. Okay. All right, Aaron, coming in with a conviction there. So what's new? You had a good Thanksgiving?

Yeah, we made some turkey, some rice, and the family ate the American way, American holiday. But if you're a few years in this country, you got to celebrate their holidays.

Yeah, I know. A lot of my friends say, What the hell, Biscayne? You're not American. I'm like, Dude, but you live there, you get involved with it, and it's fun. I don't need an excuse to eat a big fat meal. This is perfect because you've got Christmas just around the corner. You can have a few weeks of hard training, then just grind to a halt for a little bit for a week or so over Christmas and then on it with a bang, I'm assuming.

Yeah, sounds about right. I mean, you're a same coach. You know you're going to be pretty much about the same.

Where are we training, Chito?

We're training at the park, some.

Days at the park. I wasn't getting you to say that. I wasn't getting you to.

Say that. I don't care. I mean, it takes confidence to say the truth.

To you. Fucking right it does, bro. It doesn't matter where you train. You could train in my garage, you could train on the park. You could train in the street. What matters is you and the work that you're doing.

We've been at park in few gyms and then the rest we just... I mean, we were training at Coach Bagger on the target, getting the base technique and the little things most people really don't do, that's why they never get better at it. If you really want to fight, they really fight the same with the same mistakes until something catch up to them. But I'm always thinking about evolution and maintaining because that's the only way to stay ahead of the game.

Yeah. For those that don't know RUCA, which was the home of Jason Perilla, where it was his gym for the longest time, and that's where I trained and that's where you trained, DJ Pen, Chris Seiborg, McKenzie Dern. The list goes on Saturday, that place is no more. The gym shut down recently. You're in a transition process right now, transition phase, shall we say.

The new gym should be ready in the next week because Coach, I post a bit of the catch this morning, was almost done.

Oh, nice. By the way, everyone, he opened it across the street from my gym. You're in direct competition, bro. You're trying to shut me down. Cheato, what's going on?

I got nothing to do.

The U-C. Gym, Costa Mesa cost me a lot of money to open. And along comes the big swinging dick, Jason Perilloow, with the future champion of the world in Marlin Cheato, Verra, and they opened up a gym right across the street. I'm like, Why.

Are you-I'm.

Going to train in the new gym with a gym to gym show, okay?

I couldn't give a shit. I couldn't give a shit, mate. Dear, dear, dear. Harrington, what questions have we got for Cheetow then? I put a little tweet out, and I guess I've got to go through some of them. But Harrington, jump on the show, mate, and throw a few questions to Cheetow before we let him get on his way.

All right. I'll be honest with you, Mr. Bisping, the only not very rude question... Oh, wait, no, actually, this one's good here.

Why is he getting rude questions?

Because people are... I don't know.

You have to ask people. You mean rude as in disrespectful? I thought you meant like sexual.

No.

Cheeto is going to question. I can answer these is for questions. I don't have a problem.

Okay.

This will be good. Lean tweets with Cheeto Avaria.

There you Let's go.

Now we have a music in the room. Let me see.

All right.

Matty Judge wants to know. Ask Cheeto why he goes on about how good his cardio is if his output is so low.

Hey, no, no, no. Facts. I mean, that's a great question. But even with low output, you fucking never see me guys down. There's different things about it. I keep coming, keep coming, keep coming. And someone gets tired throw less output, and they're going to throw like 1,000 more, and that guy is tired without landing, and you take me two and you're dead. God bless me, man.

I've got a question. And you're right, Sheila. You never see you get tired and you only get stronger as the fire goes on. What is the biggest win of your career? Your personal favorite. Sorry, that's what I mean.

Frankie, Edgar, Myles, or the Square Garden, that fire really changed my life. I mean, that was the fight before I got to find my first main event. That was the fight before really everybody recognized me in the city. That was a good thing. Overnight, I was a different person.

Interesting. I thought you might have said the Dominic Cruz one. Obviously, Dominic is a legend. But Frankie is a legend as well.

And it was MSG on a pay-per-view. I was in the main card right before the title fight. I feel with that fight, a lot of people got to knew who I was and start doing a research on me or just keep watching me. Because on the Dominic fight, I already blew up. That's just another cherry in top of a pie.

Yeah. How... Hamilton?

So Gabriel Paz wants to know. For Cheeto, do you think there's a chance that O'Malley is secretly a genius who puts on the weird stoner persona as an act?

I mean, fuck, I don't know.

I.

Mean, maybe. I mean, we everybody put on persona, right? No one's posting a picture that will make you look bad. I mean, everything is a joke, I'm guessing. I don't know.

Get out of here, Harrington. Get out of here. My God. What's he going on about? Chino, that's right. O'malley smokes a lot of weed. I think that's pretty obvious. People like a little smoke of weed. You smoke a little bit of weed, Cheeto, all right?

I smoke sometimes, yeah.

I don't. I lose my mind. I know Perilloow loves it. I get so paranoid. I have smoke and weed, of course. I'm not going to lie, but I just get in my own head, start talking the stupidest shit. I have a bad enough time when I'm sober not talking stupid shit. Right, buddy. Well, listen, mate, thanks for your time, Cheeto. I know you're a busy man. What's the shirt?

It's a home. It's a graffiti guy. His name is Cheeto.

I like the guy. Well, come on, let's go.

You got to treat the fighter, Cheeto the graffiti guy.

Then what's the look going to be? Because we all know you're a master of the looks. Every time we see you, there's something new. I mean, look at that full head of hair. You look like my son. Callum came back last week. He looks homeless. I'm not saying you look homeless. But getting there. It's a longer, more of a skateboarder.

I mean, honestly, we'll see. I will play it by ear. Maybe I keep it, maybe I change it, maybe I go in the middle. Who knows?

You can't see that tattoo on the head with that though, Chido.

No.

That's a shame. It's a cool tattoo. We all love a good Scorpion.

I know. Maybe I should get a moha. Who knows?

Hey, mate, listen, we've kept you long enough. Chido, I miss you, brother. I miss seeing you in the gym. Good luck. I'm so happy for you. You deserve this, Chido. I know I was busting you balls in New York. I'm serious, man. You really, really deserve this. It's going to be a great fight and wish you all the best. Cannot wait for it.

Appreciate it, brother.

Thank you so much. -all right, man. Take care, Chido. You're the man. -thank you, buddy. Thank you, Mike. All right, guys. Let's talk about Good or Popcorn is the official popcorn of the USC. Let me tell you, these things are delicious. If you're trying to stay healthy, you're trying to get lean, you're trying to prepare for the holidays, Christmas is around the corner. You're going to put a few pounds on. Maybe you want to get in shape so you can be a bit more guilt-free. Guess what? Kudo Popcorn is the snack for you. Number one, it's absolutely delicious. It comes in garlic, parmaigone, which is my favorite, the white and the salty sweet, kettle corn, they all taste amazing. I'm not just saying that. Trust me, it's delicious. If you want to have a snack and you want it to be guilt-free, then KUDO Popcorn is the way to go. It is gluten-free, preservative-free, 100 % whole-grain, keto-friendly, and only has 70 calories per cup, and it's made in the USA. More importantly, given all those things, it tastes amazing. I'm telling you, one bite of KUDO Popcorn, and it will become your healthy go-to snack.

So give it a try. Trust me, you will love this. See what all the fuss is about. Have a healthy snack and get 25 % off when you go to kudosnacks. Com and use the promo called Believe. That is 25 % off the most delicious keto-friendly popcorn on the market. Go to kudosnacks. K-u-d-o. Kudosnacks. Com. Use the code Believe and get 25 % off. And there he is, Cheetovaris. So, Harrington, did you see that Connor McGregor is getting investigated by the police? This is ridiculous. Brian, if you want to join us for this conversation because I'm very sure that you have some opinions on this. There's been a bit of trouble. There's been a bit of unrest in Ireland. Connor has been out there. He's been being a man of the people. He's been tweeting. He's getting a lot of support. He's criticizing the government. He's criticizing... What's his name? Leo something, the Prime Minister of Ireland. He's been critical of the way certain things have been handled. There was some dude. Was it Friday? Some mad man running around, stabbed a few children, stabbed a woman. I mean, that is just unbelievable. It's shock and it's heartbreaking.

It's disgusting behavior. Sir McGregor has been pissed off and he's been using his platform and now he's being investigated by the police, which is just unbelievable. Can we bring up the article, Brian? Because I want to see it and get a bit of context entirely. So Irish police investigating Conner's tweet about the Dublin riots. That is the headline. And here it says, The Irish MMA superstar, Conner McGregor, is subjected to an ongoing investigation by Ireland's National Police Service, The Guardia, over tweets posted in relation to the Dublin riots last week, which erupted after a stabbing incident involving a man of Algerian descent. The Irish police, led by assistant commissioner Justin Kelly, are now investigating McGregor's tweet as part of a probe into online hate speech, according to the Times. The fighter has been vocal in the immigration debate, particularly following the murder of teacher, Aisling Murphy by a Slovakian laborer, demanding a new task force to monitor entrance into Ireland. Following Thursday's knife attack, which saw three children and two adults injured, McGregor was vocal in his criticism of the government and the guarders leadership response, and particularly, guarder Commissioner Drew Harris. And here's his tweet, and we're just getting to a conversation right now.

In adifferent children, ruthless stabbed by a mentally deranged non-national in Dublin, Ireland today. Our Chief of Police had this to say on the riots in the aftermath. Drew, not good enough. There is grave danger among us in Ireland that should never be here in the first place, and it went on. Brian, as a man that I'm sure has lots of opinions, I'll give you the first take.

Well, I think my take is going to be villainized by quite a few people here, but I think that this is an example of forced multiculturalism that should not necessarily happen. People should immigrate naturally, and when you import a bunch of people that have a different societal structure, rather than the place that you put them without acclimating them to the new society, there is going to be conflict and clashes.

Well, I'm sure there is some validity to that. I meant specifically about being investigated for a tweet.

No, sorry.

I've been fat for it.

My bad.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. We're going to get taken off YouTube without one, Brian. I mean, listen, you make a valid point there's some great people. There's good and bad in every bunch. You know what I mean? Of course. We'll leave that at that, shall we say. But I was shocked last night when I was sitting at home and I saw that he was being investigated for tweet. And you'll know, I always say, I'm not going to sit here and defend McGregor just because he's Conor McGregor. But in this instance.

I am.

Shocked by this, and I find it quite ridiculous. And it was actually Rebecca that came up with this because I said, Look at this. Mcgregor has been investigated essentially by the police, which would mean that they're looking to prosecute. That's why they're investigating. Otherwise, there'd be no need to use those resources for an investigation. And her response straight away was something that I found myself completely agreeing with. She goes, Well, that's absolutely nonsense. If you bring up the tweet, Brian, let's have a look at some of the responses, because I'm sure all the responses in the tweets, I'm sure there's back and forth. I'm sure there's some people that have opposing views. But I'm also pretty sure and confident that the majority of people agree with the sentiment of what he's saying. A non-national Brazilian stopped the guy, but this doesn't fit Conner's narrative. We're all fed up sincerely, citizens of the world. Love Dublin when I visit. Please don't let it turn into London. Respect from the UK. Problem is there'll be hundreds, if not thousands of responses if you go down. Rebecca said, Well, why is he being prosecuted or investigated? Because he's got a large following?

And that's essentially what I think this is, because other people that are responding in the tweets that share the same sentiment, surely they are guilty of the same alleged crime or offense than what McGregor is, but they're not being investigated by the police. Ultimately, what I'm saying is because he's got a large platform and he's influential, they have a problem with this, Brian.

I think like you were saying, this is the most bullshit thing, is people going to jail for things, and they tweet. Turns out in 2017, that's the last time I can get good stats on this in a quick amount of time, I'm sorry. It says that the British police were arresting people a day for hate speech from online activity. I can only imagine that's been ramping up throughout the last few years. Oh, boy, that's a nightmare.

Yeah, it's insane. That's insane. I don't even see the hate speech. I don't see the hate speech from McGregor there.

No, but I think the point, at least what he's being investigated for, is incitement. There were riots that followed in Dublin shortly thereafter. If the politicians are looking for a finger to point, they can say, Our biggest sports star, the biggest one we got is telling people World War and we got to take the country back. Trying to frame it in a way like Conor McGregor is the reason that these riots broke out in Dublin and not their failed policies.

I understand your point there, but I would say the biggest problem right now is that there was a mad man running around Dublin with a knife stabbing people, stabbing children, stabbing innocent women. That's the real issue. Now, one would hazard a guest. That's more than likely why people are rioting. Not because they're saying, Look at this. Mcgregor said that. Let's go fucking mental. No, they're sick of people getting attacked. They're sick of their city being overrun by mental patients because that man is clearly deraged. Clearly, I would hope to have some mental issue. You know what I mean? He's clearly got something going on. Otherwise, why would you stab innocent children? I think that's the catalyst. We're not a political show far from it. I could be partaking such a thing. I know people say, Stop going on about the politics. We're not going on about politics. This is by far the biggest star of the big martial arts. So this is a big story. It's big news. It is. And then also it's a bloody overreach of the highest magnitude. What's going to happen?

What's going to happen when Connor McGregor goes to jail for hate speech laws? You think the riots in Dublin are bad now? People are going to burn down everything.

So I have a quote from the Prime Minister of Ireland, and I think this is where it's going to become more wide-ranging than just the Connor McGregors of the world. He said, We will pass new laws in the coming weeks to enable the Guardia to better make use of the CCT evidence they collected yesterday. And also, we will modernize our laws against incitement to hatred and hatred in general. I think it's now very obvious to anyone who might have doubted us that our incitement to hatred legislation is just not up to date. It's not up to date for the social media age, and we need that legislation through within a matter of weeks.

Well, obviously people have a problem with free speech, so I'll choose my words carefully. But I think he's coming under a lot of scrutiny and criticism right now. Was it Leo Varadko?

I believe.

That's a-Yeah, yeah, I think so. I don't keep up with Irish politics. Certainly not the Irish Prime Minister. But I did see there was a young girl, a child that was kidnapped by Hamas. And I don't want to get into this whole thing. And she was freed. She was released. And he phrased it. He coined it in a tweet. The girl that was lost has now been found. Basically said she was lost. And McGregor came out and said, What are you talking about? Or pierce Morgan came out. I think there was a few people came out. A lot of people. A lot of people. Do you know what I mean? I don't want to get into that whole thing because it's a very messy, sticky situation that somebody like me and a meathead doesn't want to wade in with his size 12s and make an absolute mess of it all. But McGregor getting investigated for that. It's going to have the opposite effect. People are going to rally behind him. People are going to get behind him. They're trying to demonize him or moderate him or restrict what he's saying, I don't think that's going to work at all.

Mcgregor can afford the best lawyers on planet Earth. I can't imagine this investigation is going to go too far.

No. And like Brian said, the moment they arrest that man, and.

For.

Talking back, essentially talking back to the PM, there will be mass riots in the street. That's crazy. That's one thing people of free nations just don't stand for.

It is not. But you know what people don't stand for? This being talking about shit he doesn't really know about. So let's talk about something we do. You put the nose together. We've got Tom Astorino coming up shortly. We've also got Benille Darryous joining us. I don't want't want to get into this either. The big story of the week and this whole thing with Sean Strickland talking about Ian Garry's wife. People are coming out. Youtubers are talking about it. The mocking the whole situation. Ian Garry's clearly pissed off and responding in a manner. He's threatening to sue Sean Strickland. I get it. I understand it. That's his wife. That's his lady. All right. He came out and did this book that was a long time ago. I'm not going to comment about somebody's wife. I'm certainly not going to make tittle-tattle of it. I'm not going to make light of it. You don't do that. You know what I mean? And to be honest, to be honest, he's fortunate he's fighting Vincente Luque, because Vincente Luque is not the type of guy to bring up any of this-stuff. Do you know what I mean? And the whole thing, it's in bad taste.

And people say, Well, she did a book, How to be a Wag. She came out, she said, No. If you know the context, she did that. It was satire. It was sarcasm. I don't know if it was. I don't know if it wasn't. All I know is wife, it's the mother of his children. I think people should have a little bit of respect. I said that yesterday on a YouTube video. I just touched on it very briefly because I was talking about U-of-C-296, and people came out and said, Well, hold on. He was talking shit about Neil Magne, right? And he twisted his words there. And I get that, all right? I get that. But you can say whatever you want about your opponent, and your opponent can say whatever they want about you. I feel like talking about people's family, talking about their wives is a little bit of a stretch. And you see there's a lot of YouTubers that shall go unnamed right now that are having a field day with the situation. Sean Strickland is having a field day as well because Sean Strickland don't give a fuck. Sean Strickland is a great character for the sport of mixed martial arts.

He's funny, he's engaging, he's off the chain. Okay, here's the thing, guys. He's sitting there in his car talking a lot of shit. He's going to sue Sean Strickland or he was threatening him to. I mean, that's not the right movie either, Ian. It really isn't. That isn't going to happen. The lawsuit is not even going to get off the ground. I don't even know if he's going to follow through with that. But you're pulling a face that says to me that you feel a little bit differently, Mr. Woke, Harrington, over there.

I'm hardly woke, sir, but I would say, I.

Think- Hey, if I'm woke, you're woke.

I like a devil's avocado every now and then. Ian Gary was saying, Hey, I'm warning you to take this down because litigation is going to come. I think his wife might actually file a lawsuit similar to the Logan, Paul, Nina situation, and I could see that.

Really? In your expert legal opinion? What is your expert legal opinion, sir?

I have no expert legal opinion. I'm just saying you can bring a lawsuit for absolutely anything these days, and what else is she doing but fiercely protecting her family, right? That's the only narrative I've seen from anybody who's supporting Ian, Gary, is that she works constantly to support Ian, Gary, and his dreams and becoming a USC champion. And she meticulously maintains this brand, why not throw out a fibrillous lawsuit to hold up Sean Strickland in court?

Well, because lawsuits cost money, and I'm sure Ian can afford it. I'm sure Sean can afford to defend it. But the whole thing is silly. It's in bad taste. Let's just leave it at that. I think the best thing that Ian could have done was just ignore it. And that's easy for us to say, just ignore it. It was a storm in a teacup. This book was revealed. She did it 12 years ago. You know what I mean? It's easy for us to say. But had he have just ignored it, it would have got forgotten about pretty quickly. It would have done. Why are you pulling your face?

I don't think a story of this magnitude where this many people are commenting on it, especially in today's day and age where the whole trad wife discussion is very popular on the page, traditional wife and this whole alpha male, I'm the man in my house. My woman does what I said, thing. That the.

Whole thing. If he'd had just not done this, if he'd had just ignored it, it would have got swept away with the news cycle. There's big fights around the corner. There's news breaking all the time. There's always news. Conor McGregor has just been fucking investigated. It's only a matter of time before Conor fucking does something else. We got Leon Edwards versus Colby, Covington. I think Ian should just be very grateful he's not fighting Colby, Carvington because he would have gone at him hard. But that's it. We'll leave that one there because it is a sticky one. I do not like talking about people's wives, especially when it's the mother of your children. So we'll leave that there. Ian, we wish you all the best. Versus Vincente Luque, talking of which might have Vincente Luque for Thursday's show. So there we go. Anyway, enough from me or enough from you, Hampton. We've got Tom Aspen all here from Cheetauvera to this guy who's not Anthony Smith. You have a full head of her. You are the champion of the world. What you got there? A little protein shake, Tom?

No, just a can, mate. Just a can. It's actually a can of water. I'm not going to shout about it because it's not officially sponsored me, but they did send me some free shit, so I appreciate it.

You've gone woke.

Definitely have. I'm aware of my financial situation.

You got.

To watch out.

The financial situation is good these days, I'm assuming.

It's better than it was.

It's definitely.

Better than.

It was. No, good for you, mate. Good for you. No, the reason I said woke is because we should all be cutting down on our plastics, and I'm sure this is what you're here to talk about. But anytime I mentioned that, I remember I put a tweet out. I was in Singapore, and it just dawned on me one day. I hadn't seen one plastic bottle. I said, Look at this. I said, Only glass bottles. I said, That's great. Everyone came after me. He said, You're a wank, you prick. Piss off back to England and all the rest of it. How do you feel about the single-use plastic consumption, Tom?

Never thought about it, to be honest with you, Mike. Never crossed on.

The line. I know we've got off on a ridiculous tangent. We will be going on a ridiculous... Look at that. Giving a little flex.

-sorry, mate.

-come on, Tom, give us a flex.

-i've just finished training. -give us a double flex. I'm a bit pumped. I've just done a bit of weight. I'm a bit pumped at the minute.

I feel good. There it is. Looking good, mate. Are you a guy that's training all the time? There's not really enough season for you?

Yeah, mate, after my fight, I had a week off, and it was a push for me to have a week off, to be honest. I start going insane if I can't train for too long. I need to train. I'm just one of them guys. I've got to be in the gym every day, twice a day. I'm training all the time, mate.

In the words of the famous Connor McGregor, You stay ready so you don't have to get ready.

Exactly. I'm aware my next fight is probably going to be a while away. I've had two fights in four months, so it's quite a lot for someone, a heavyweight at the top of the division. But what else am I going to do? Do you know what I mean? Sit at home all day. I might as well do something productive. And as we spoke about many times, might mean you on camera and off camera, I'm trying to be the best heavyweight that's ever walked the face of the Earth. I'm not going to do that sat at home watching TV. I'm back after it, mate. I'm hungry, and I'm in the gym twice a day. I train twice a day, so feeling good, mate.

Yeah, good for you, mate. It's going to be a lifestyle. And that's why you're able to take on fights against people like Serge Pavlovi on two weeks' notice. Now that the dust has settled, if... And what a performance, by the way. We haven't spoken to you on the show again, so congratulations. I'm sure all the believers and everyone watching feels the same. That was an unbelievable moment, Tom. It really was. And I've kissed your ass non-stop about it. So I don't want to make people feel sick about it, so I'm not going to go on about it. But let's just say you didn't land that punch at 67 seconds and it went into the later rounds. How was the fitness? Let's be honest.

To be honest, I think I could have done five rounds. Right. I would have been fine. I would have been absolutely fine, mate. There's something... I don't want to blow my cover here, but I do have a secret weapon that only my training partners are aware of, and I get better, mate, as the rounds go on. I'm not very good early on, to be honest. I'm much better as the rounds go on. I've got really good conditioning. I pride myself on my conditioning and how I maintain it all year round. It's just something that I've not had the opportunity to show yet. It would have been a nice surprise for everyone, but if you can take them one-minute knockout wins, obviously, you're going to take them.

One hundred %. You're right, though. Again, not kissing your backside. We haven't seen you cardio tested. We haven't seen you in the third round. We haven't seen you at the end of the second round. You know what I mean? I'm looking forward to the day when Tom Aspinon gets tested. What happens? It's all well and good being the hammer. Sometimes you've got to be able to be the nail, Tom. Can you be a nail? Can you take a licking and keep on ticking?

I've done it in quite a few of my earlier fights. I do it every day in the gym, and that's all I can do, really. Do you know what I mean? Prepare the best that I can. I ask anyone I've ever trained with, I'm constantly starting in bad positions, constantly seeking out the best training partners who can give me a rough time in the gym. I'm not one of them guys who likes to be comfortable. I like to push myself constantly. I do it well in the gym and I've done it well in other fights, so I think I'll be fine.

Of course, and I'm only teasing you. Now, we know you can do well in front of a big crowd in an octagon almost naked with four-outed gloves on. But how do you do well in a big crowd with a microphone in your hand talking abouttails from the octagon 2, which is coming up in a couple of weeks?

Well, we're going to find out, mate, aren't we? We've got tails from the octagon 2 coming up. Two nights, one in London, one in Manchester. Very excited about it, mate. Obviously, to spend time with my friends, you and Paul Craig as well, which is going to be a fun time. I think that's going to reflect on stage and off stage. I'm looking forward to it, mate. It's going to be a great event. Obviously, I went to the last one that you did in Manchester, and mate, it was an epic night. I'm honored that you've asked me to be part of it. I'm really excited for it.

You know what, Tom? To be honest, you were the first one I thought of because the promoter came to me and said, We've got an idea. Why don't you and some friends come on stage? Who do you think? Who would you like? And of course, I do a podcast with Anthony, but they're cheat bitches. They didn't want to fly people international. And I'm like, Well, Tom, it's got to be Tom. And then on top of that, then you go out and you become champion of the goddamn world in the interim. Pardon the pun. You become champion of the goddamn world. It's worked out. Absolutely perfect. But what do you want to drink on stage? That's the real question, Tom. Because we will be having a little boozer. We will be having a couple of drinks. We'll be loosening up. There's going to be a big crowd. You might get nervous. You know what I mean? There's going to be a lot of people.

They want to hear from our channel. I'll be all right with it, mate. Public speaking, I can do it with my eyes closed. Absolutely no issue with that to me. But I'll definitely be having a few drinks. I don't mind a rum. I'm a bit of a rum guy.

Are you a fancy rum guy? Because I've got to put the list in. What do you want?

What's your favorite rum? Any dark rum is good for me. Any dark rum, just put that down.

I'm good to go. What do you buy? Because I don't drink rum. I've never bought a rum in my life. What would you go for? If you were walking into the off-licence and you had to buy some rum, what would be the choice? What would be the rum of choice for the champion? Never mind the fucking interim. Never mind that. What would be the rum of choice for the champ?

I'm not sure you know. Just any they've got. Any they've got. Captain Morgan is pretty good. Captain Morgan is all right. Yeah, I don't mind about that. But any, they're all the same, aren't they?

-you've got a spice, Captain Morgan?

Yeah, Spiced. Yeah, I like a bit of that. But I'm not fussy, mate. I drink whatever.

With a little bit of ginger ale?

No, I've never had it with that.

It's meant to be good.

-that's good, is it?

That's what Adam Catchwell drinks. And he got John, my editor. They got John, and John was like, Oh, this is amazing. You know, John.

Yeah, all right. Well, if John's on it, then is John coming by the way?

John's going to that. John's coming. He's going to be filming some behind-the-scene stuff. You and John go way back. You two mates.

We're like that, mate. Me and John, we're absolutely like that. Yeah, top guy.

Oh, dear. Oh, dear. Mate, I'm looking forward to it. I really am. It's going to be fun. You love a bit of karaoke as well, don't you, Tom?

I've done it in the past, but I'm not doing it on that. No chance. Hey, I've got a family of friends coming and cameras and all kinds.

Of-i'm trying to talk him into it. For anyone that doesn't know.

We're going to get talked. I know you asked me in New York, and I was getting a bit cocky there and said that I'd do it, but I'm backing out of it. There's no chance I'm doing it. We'll get Paul Craig on it. Paul Craig will be.

Up for it, won't he? That'd be amazing, right? It's going to be a sold-out crowd. People are going to love it. We're going to be having fun, games. We've got some Q&A's. I've got some forfeits for you, though. I'm going to have some questions. And if you get it wrong, we're going to spin a wheel. You know what I mean? I don't know what the forfeits are going to be, but they're going to be... You might have to down a pint of laga. You might have to shrimp across the stage. You might have to do a little dance for us, Tom. I don't know what it's going to be. That all sounds terrible, but we're going to come up with it. It's going to be good. It's going to be fun. But you did say you dance, you would sing. What a way to close out the night. Tom takes the microphone. What's your walk on music? Generally not early in Englishman in New York.

It's usually like Curtis Mayfield moving up. It's a great song, mate. I can't ruin it. I'm not ruining it publicly. No chance.

No, fair enough. Fair enough. I can't wait though, mate. Again, thank you, mate. Thank you. I'm really looking forward to it. You and Paul, it's going to be a good time. You just said something a minute ago before we got into that. You were talking about you think it's going to be a while before your next fight. Why do you think that?

No, it's not that I think it's going to be a while, but it's not going to be like a year or anything like that. It's just the way that the fights go at the top in it. They're not coming around every two, three months like they are when you climb in the ladder. They tend to go slower, especially at heavyweight. Mate, who knows? I was saying it was going to be a while after I thought to bore it in July, and then I thought I'd get it in November. So quick turn around there. Who knows, mate? That's why I stay in the gym. I never liked to be like three or four weeks away from peak fitness. I'll be staying in the gym, mate, ready. I'll be ready to take fights whenever.

Now, we had this conversation on the YouTube channel a while ago, but have you heard anything from the USC? Have you heard anything about... I'm not talking about opponents, and I don't expect you to divulge any secrets or anything that's off the record or private. But have you heard that you are going to be defending the interim? Anything like that?

Nothing, is what I've heard. Nothing? Zero. I'm not expecting to hear anything, to be honest. Until after Christmas, mate, it's probably all going to go quiet for me. I'll just be enjoying a bit of time, like I say, on the stage, having a couple of beers, meeting up with you over Christmas and that, and spending time with a family and friends and doing all that. I'll just be... But like I said, I'll still be in the gym. I'll be in the gym twice a day. I'll be working hard and I've got goals to achieve.

You're going to put me through my paces, Tom? If I come home on Saturday, I'll show you a few bits and bats if you want it.

See, the thing is with you, Mike, I'm not.

Don't come on, Michelle, don't fucking abuse me.

You still think you can take me. I know deep down you'd think you can.

Take me.

Tom, look at that. You are looking good. When I seen you in New York, you were looking in good shape, mate, so fair play.

Mate, I don't think I can take you. I think you would just pick me up, slam me on my fucking head, and you'd do it with a beer in your hand or a can of water, because he's all wonk these days. Mate, I don't think that at all. Listen, I recognize greatness when I see it, and that's why I've been... What's the word I'm looking for? What's the phrase I'm looking for? That's why I've been cheerleading you for quite some time, mate. And I always said that it was nothing to do with because we're friends or because you're a very likable guy or that I know you. Yeah. It was always I recognize greatness when I see it. And you are Tom. You are, Tom. So no, for the record, I'd have a fucking good go, though.

I know. I'm not doubting that. And I always appreciate.

What you say nice stuff about me. I fucking come at you, bro.

It doesn't go an't go a notice. It doesn't go a notice that you say nice stuff about me, and I appreciate it. But I also, deep down think.

If.

For whatever reason, me and you kicked off a little bit, you still think you could take me. And I like that. I quite.

It. I'll tell you this. No man alive. No one alive could fucking... I'm not going to back down, Tom. If it kicked off and things got fresh, I would be the bigger man. I'm 44 years old these days. I would be the bigger man. I would be very mature. But if you just lost the plot, out and attacked me, if, for example, you didn't like some of the jokes, because there's some jokes coming before you come out on stage, you know what I mean?

I know you pretty well at this point. I know there's some abuse coming my way. And I'm all.

Right with it. There's a lot of abuse.

Coming top. I'll brush it off. I'll brush it off. I'll be a classic guy, as always. I'll take it. I'll take it. No problem.

But if you did attack me, I would have to fight back. I would have to defend myself.

Right, so?

I don't know how that would go, but you know what I mean? I'd bite your ankles. Anyway, enough of that. You've been very vocal about Steepay and John Jones, right? You were saying to me, You think Jones should be stripped. You think Steepe should fight you. Have you heard anything from either of those guys? Has there been anything on social media? Anything you've seen in an interview or anything?

Again, nothing. Absolutely nothing. First of all, let me start by saying, when I said Jones should be stripped, I think I messed that up the way I worded it, to be honest. What I meant is he should vacate the belt like the light every way he should have done and keep the division moving a little bit. But at the end of the day, who am I to tell John Jones what he should do? Do you know what I mean? He's an absolute legend of the sport. Same with Steepee. All I'm trying to do, I've been getting a lot of... You see a lot of online trolls and stuff like that, but, mate, I'm trying to be out there getting my dream fight. Give me a break. I'm trying to get fight one of the Legends, that's all. I'll fight everybody. I've got another 10 years left in this sport before it's over. I'm going to fight these other guys. I would love to have a crack at these two guys before they retire. Just to get it on my resume, I'm not thinking that I'm better than I'm not getting beyond myself or anything like that.

I just want to crack at the guys that I've been watching for the last 10 years and I'm a massive fan of the sport. I think it'd be brilliant, that's all. I'm not out there hating on anybody or anything like that. I respect these guys more than anybody could imagine. But of course, I want to live my dream and step in there and challenge myself against them. Of course I do.

Yeah. No, of course you do. And rightly so. So on that, because I get your point. I get your point. I understand why you're saying that. But I got asked, I did an interview for USA Today when I was in New York. And the lady asked me, she said, Do you don't think John John should be stripped? And I actually went on and I gave a big point why he shouldn't be stripped. Obviously, this was before you bloody became the champion. And now I'm eating my words type of thing. But I said to the woman there, I said, Well, look, listen, Jones is the greatest of all time. Currently, I'm sure you've got something to say about that, and I'm sure you agree with that, actually, at the moment. And when you look at... You look at the body of work that is hard and all the rest of it, I said an interim champs are brought in for that specific reason. Why should it be stripped? So if I said that to her, I've got to say that to you. And I'm not going to get what you say because I fully endorse and understand why you feel that way, and I get it.

I agree to a certain extent because it is going to be a very long time before you get to fight Steepe or Jones. Do you think you will get either one of them? Do you think you will get the winner?

I don't know, to be honest, but I know you've got to shoot your shot, and sometimes you have to be vocal about it. It's not usually my style to be out there vocal and calling the shots this, that, and the other. But as I said, mate, it's my dream. And I think that anyone knocking someone for trying to achieve get the dream fight and have the dream experience is just silly. I would love to experience that before I retire. Sorry, not before I retire, before they retire. And just see how I get on, see how my skills match up against their skills. Because as I said, I'm a massive fan of the sport. It's actually, MMA, NFT in particular, is basically the only sport I like. It's the only sport I watch, and I'm a fan of and I know the athletes and I'm interested in. Mate, obviously, I'm a heavyweight and I've been watching guys like Stipe, mate. He's one of my favorite fighters ever. So of course, I want to challenge myself against him now, and it's not out the realms of possibility, really. I'm an interim champion right now and he's fit to fight and he doesn't have a fight right now.

So why not shoot my shot at that? Do you know what I mean? I'm not trying to get above my station or call out these legends and disrespect them. It's nothing like that. I'm trying to challenge myself and live my dream and go out there and beat one of these guys while I've got the chance.

Yeah, no, there's nothing wrong with that. Or disrespectful in the slightest. And to be honest, I agree with what you're saying. I really do. I love what you said there. You want to challenge yourself. You want to test yourself because, of course, you could pick some lesser competition and be calling them out right now because they're booked for way next year, but you're not doing that. And I'm not encouraging you to talk shit about people like Jake, Paul, and and all the rest of it. But Jake Paul keeps picking these fucking matchups against retired mixed martial artists. And people ask me, and I always say, Well, they're not fighters. And they said, Well, what do you mean? I said, Well, fighters go into fights not necessarily knowing that they're going to win. They think they can win. They hope they can win, and they go out there and they prepare and they try their best. That's essentially what fighting and competing should be all about. Because I'm sure you were confident, but I'm sure you had your nerves about going in there with Serge Pavloviic.

Of course. To be honest, that's one of the main reasons that I absolutely love this sport because every time you step in there, or not even step in there, or in the process of building up to a fight, a fight week comes around and you have all these wild stuff going through your mind constantly. You find out who you are in these situations. That is massive, not just for sport, but for life in general, I think. It's a massive vehicle to find out what you're all about mentally in thesethese situations. Like I said a couple of weeks ago, mate, I was turned up without a training camp with a bad back fighting literally the most dangerous guy in the USA. Obviously, there was a lot of doubt there, obviously. But I know now that I can do that. I didn't know that two weeks ago. I had no idea. I was just risking it all and throwing it all in and seeing what I'm all about. It's nice to find out what you're all about in them situations. There's plenty of people, mate, sit on the couch, don't do anything, scroll through Instagram all day, start commenting on people's pictures about this, that, and the other.

They have absolutely no idea, mate, what it takes. Absolutely not a clue. They never ever will get anywhere near close to challenging themselves in any way because they're scared of failing. I can sit here now and speak openly and say, I'm not scared of failing because I put myself out there plenty of times at this point. Last time in particular, in the worst-case scenario that I could possibly be it. I overcame that and I won. I've took a lot of confidence from that. There's just a lot of people talk a lot of shit who've got no idea. It's hard not to be frustrated about that sometimes with guys like Jake, Paul, as you say, who are picking the fights and doing all this like, I've had eight USC fights now. I've not had a say in one opponent yet. You can ask anybody in the USC, anyone who works for the USC, any of the matchmakers, anything. They send me a fight, I say, Yeah, and that's how it's worked so far. So if I can have a bit of say now, which I don't know if I can or can't, to be honest, I'm just shooting my shot at this point, but I would look to fight one of the people that have been a fan of for years before they retire.

I mean, nobody could have an issue with what he just said. Number one, beautiful words, by the way, and I think everyone should listen to you. I've said the same thing, but you say far more eloquently than I could ever tell you.

You're the commentator.

I was just going to say you're coming from my job. Can you start stuttering a little bit, you know what I mean? Can you start just blubbering your words like I do and just stop being so perfect in every bloody way, shape and form? My God. Can this version just show up, please? Saturday and night. Well, sorry. No, what is it? Thursday and Saturday and night.

I'll try my best.

Where do people buy tickets, Tom?

I don't know. It's your show. I'm just tagging along.

Myticket. Co. Uk.

No, that'll do it. Myticket. Co.

Uk. What did they search online? What could they possibly search online?

They had tails for the octagon too. That's easy. Search it.

That's it. I'm going to say one name to you.

Go on.

Cyril-garn.

Yeah.

What about it? He's been making some noise. He was calling you out.

Yeah.

What do you think?

Well, if I'm offered it, we'll see how it goes. But I don't know. You know me and him, we're going to fight each other, obviously, at some point in the next before it's over. As I said, ideally right now, I'd like to test myself against one of the two guys who I have massively looked up to for years. But mate, I think it's pretty obvious that I'm willing to fight Sir Gaut. I've called him out about 50 times at this point. I've been to Paris to watch. I went to his home city mate to watch his event, and he's still turning me down. I've done countless interviews saying his name, and he's literally come out saying that he won't fight me. I don't know. I'm not saying I won't fight him. Not at all. But right now I'd rather fight Jones or Steepee. But if I have to fight him, absolutely no issue, mate. I'll take him out.

Yeah. And we'll see how all that stuff plays out. I'm sure you will be the first that you inform, right? -if that might-.

-you're going to be inclusive, mate. Believe me. Absolutely.

How many times we had you on the show now, Tom?

Oh, plenty. A lot. A lot of times.

I think a lot of your success is down to the exposure from the show.

I'd agree.

I'm 100% agree. All right, final one will let you go. Nothing to do with fighting, Tom. Obviously, what you've achieved is incredible.

I know you can't-I've got a long way to go yet, mate. I've got a long way to go. I don't think I've completed the game yet. When I go down, it's one of the best heavyweights to ever do it. If not the best, that's when it'll be incredible. Right now, I've got an interim title. I'm basically number one contender at this point for the real title. I'm coming after it, mate. I'm in a really good spot right now. Mentally, physically, and everything like that. But by no means am I satisfied. No means. I've still got plenty of work to do.

No, 100 %. I fully agree. Very smart words and a nice approach as well. Fighting aside for a minute, talk to me about what it was like. I know you said your kids, they don't really understand the gravitas of the situation, but still bringing the belt back to Atherton, Manchester, walking home with the belt. How's it been now? It's been what, about two weeks? How's the last two weeks been for you, Tom?

Coming up to two weeks now, I think, was it? Oh, maybe a bit.

Over two weeks. Just over, yeah.

Just over two weeks. It's been amazing. I get a bit of a weird look of people when they see me these days. They look like I've seen a coach or something. I'm like, Listen, I've been coming in this shop. For example, I've gone to a local shop. I've been coming to this shop for bloody 20 years. What the hell have I got now? Yeah, mate, it's been great. My kids were so happy to see me. But you know the best thing about it all, Mike, I'll be honest, is I flew overnight on the Sunday, the day after my fight, the Sunday night I flew. I arrived back Monday morning just before the kids started school, just before they were setting off for school, actually. They did not give a shit, mate, what I'd just done. I could have got knocked out in 10 seconds. They weren't bothered. They were just happy that dad was home asking, Will I take him to school? Can we do this after school? Blah, blah, blah. They didn't even ask about my fight, and that's great. I love that about kids. They weren't bothered one bit, my kids. I wouldn't have it any other way.

Do you know what I mean? It'sfantastic. But the public reception, mate, has been great. For example, I went to a bar on the weekend, just a local bar.

Just a cheeky one or two.

Cheeky one or two, as you do. I turn around, mate, and the whole bar, literally, the whole bar was trying to get a picture with me at the same time. I was just like, Oh, my God, this is just crazy, man. It's just absolutely crazy. I'm so thankful to everyone that supports me. I'm so thankful as well to everyone that's helped me in any way along the way. You know what I mean? It's a long journey. You definitely can't do it on your own. I've been involved in martial arts for most of my life, and there's been a million coaches and training partners, everything that I've been involved with there. I appreciate all of them. Every single person that's helped me along the way, it's been amazing.

It's beautiful, mate, and no one deserves more than you. But I'm going to say piss off because we got the half of the main event of this weekend. Benille, Darouche, have you met Benille?

I've not. I'll let you get to it though, boys. I won't interrupt the interview.

Introduce yourself. Be cordial. You're the champion of the world. Represent yourself with the authority. Hi, Benille. Nice to meet you. My name's Tom.

I didn't want to be rude. I didn't want to interrupt the interview.

Benille, very nice to.

Meet you. Nice to meet you, brother.

Okay, Royce.

I'll leave you to it. Hey, Tom. Thanks for your time. Really, really appreciate it, brother. You deserve everything, by the way. Apologies, Benille. You deserve everything coming your way. You're one of the most stand-up, humble, hardworking, talented guys ever. See you soon. Tell us from the Archgon too. Thank you, brother. We'll talk soon.

Thank you, boys. Have a good one.

You're the man, Tom. Benille, Darryush, here he is, as I said.

What's going on?

One-half of this weekend's main event. I appreciate you taking the time because I text you last night because Anthony Smith has got a fight in a couple of weeks. I'm flying solo today. I need some guests. I thought, Benille was fantastic last time. You know what I mean? I wonder if I can get Benile. I thought he's fighting on Saturday. I can't ask him. I said in the text, It doesn't matter. I apologize for that when you were like, Of course, let's do it. I appreciate it, Benile.

Yeah, of course, man. Monday is a good day. Monday is like before the storm. If it was tomorrow or the following, it's going to be tough. Man, my schedule is so packed. This is the most packed I've ever had my schedule.

Yeah, I do know. Tomorrow you'll be on the plane in the morning, right?

I'm already here. I got here early. I know that the weather is a little different, plus I like to get away, so I just get away and come here a little early.

Yeah, I'll be there on Wednesday. How is the weather? What should I pack? Should I bring a warm coat?

Yes, it's cold and dry.

Okay. All right. Well, thank you for the heads up. I could have looked at the app, if I'm honest. Okay. Benil, I was sitting on the exercise bag this morning, the Peloton, and I was doing a little bit of research for this weekend's fight, and I was watching you versus Mattau's camera. What a fight that was and what a performance. Obviously, this weekend you've got Arman, Sauroukian. Tell us your thoughts on this fight. Tell me the challenges that Sauroukian brings to the table.

Sauroukian is young, he's hungry, and he's improving all the time. That's one of the benefits of being young. You can train so much and you're hungry. It's a dangerous fight for me because he's going to take his losses and think to himself he's going to improve from those losses and come back and stronger. One of the best ways to prove that he's better is by beating a guy like me. He lost to Matus, and I beat Matus. If he beats me, he proves himself that he's grown from his loss. I think that it puts me in a difficult position because this guy is really hungry.

What do you think he's going to do? Try and grapple here?

I think so. That seems to be his style. I think he's going to mix in striking and grappling like he usually does. I think he'll see which one is favoring him and then he'll stick to that one more. That's typically how he fights. If the grappling option is available, it's always option A for him, I think. But he also uses pretty good striking overall as well. It's going to be one of those things where he'll switch off, I think.

Yeah. I'm just trying to bring up your Wikipedia page. Here it is here. Because off the top of my head, and I'm trying to bring it up so I know fully, you have been fighting the very best guys. Top of the food chain, guys. Hold on, here we are. Charles O'Leveron, Mattalaghan, Tony Ferguson, Ceeza Ferrarin. Now you're fighting Arman Sal Rukian. Sal Rukian is... He often said that he was going to be the future of this division. And he is very, very talented. Who was that fight that he had? It was Arman Sal Rukian versus who... It was one of my favorite fights. Sal Rukian versus helped me out.

Gamrot.

I think it was Gamrot. No, it wasn't Gamrot. It wasn't bloody Gamrot. Who was it? Hold on.

It was Gamrot? His fight with Gamrot was amazing.

His fight with Gamrot was good. It was... Hold on.

He fought Mankyach on his debut. He beat Oliver and Mercy. He's beat-It.

Was Gamrot. It was the Gamlot fight. It was the Gamlot fight.

Let me tell you something. Let me tell you something about that fight. I watched that fight, and at that time, I had no opportunities. No one was available to fight. I called my manager and I told him I want to fight that guy. I want to fight one of those guys, basically. That's how the Gamrot fight ended up happening. I was so impressed with that fight. I want to fight those guys. Yeah, I'm with you. That was one of my favorite fights.

That's where I'm going with this because to hear you say that and A, to give the respect and then to watch that fight, because that fight was phenomenal. I think that was one of the more entertaining MMA grappling fights that we'll see. The pace was non-stop. You'll be more than prepared, more than ready. Your grappling is at a very high level and you're always prepared as well. But for you to watch that and say, That's who I want next. I want one of those guys. I think that speaks volumes about your character because there seems to be a narrative that some people put out there that some of the top guys, I think you might have said it yourself, that the top guys are going round in a circle and fighting each other.

Yeah, there's definitely a little bit of that. The only guy who has stepped out of that has been Justin Pau-Yves, basically, when he fought Fizif. But besides that, they spoke to me about fighting Dustin Pau-Yves a couple of times and it's never materialized. They even called me to... Actually, it was going to be on Tom's card. When John Jones got hurt, they called me and they said, Hey, can you make way to two weeks to be on that card? We'll put you against Dustin Pau-Yves. I think they want to beef up the card. Obviously, I said yes. Then they said, Well, this is according to my manager. Then they mentioned December second and then fighting him December second. Obviously, same thing. Yes. Then they got back to me or Ali got back to me. He was like, Nope, it's just going to be our Monsterukin. I said, All right, well, whatever. It makes no difference to me.

Yeah, of course. Dustin, right now, if I'm not mistaken, doesn't have anybody matched up. If you get the job done here this weekend, and I know he wants to fight on U. F. C. 300, he's been very vocal about that, that sounds like it might work.

Yeah. My work this weekend could have worked. Two weeks ago could have worked. It's not me that's like, Oh, man, it's got to be this date. It's going to be that. I'm ready to go.

Yeah, absolutely. You're always ready to go. Did you have a great Thanksgiving last week? Did you get involved with the whole festivities?

My side of the family, they're not really big on turkey. Then my wife's side of the family, they're not really big on turkey. I went and bought some fry tip. I thought I found some picanya and then I smoked it, and that's what we ate. We had pretty big Thanksgiving. We had at least, I want to say, 10 pounds of meat. Then we also had the... What is it? The ribs, the beef ribs, big beef ribs, smoked those as well. That's what we ate. I don't think we ate anything that was chicken or turkey. It was... It was an amazing Thanksgiving, actually. The food was probably the best we've had.

Nice. Good. We did the same thing. We got a tenderloin roast. The turkey is all right, but if I'm trying to have something special, I don't want turkey. You know what I mean?

Yeah, I get the tradition, but even if it's turkey, I would have to smoke it myself and the process is if I'm going to take all that time to do it, I'd rather just do good quality meat.

Here's why we never did turkey, because we're going to England to see my mother and my dad, and we're going out for Christmas. In England, the traditional Christmas dinner is turkey. I'm like, We don't have turkey twice in a row. Do you know what I mean? We're doing that. But never mind that. I want to ask you about the smoking. You've mentioned this a few times. It a lot of people are into the smoking. I like to barbecue. I've got a decent setup outside, but I don't have a smoker. What smoker do you have and what would you recommend? And why should I get a smoker? Why would you pull that face, Benil?

Because it's a game-changer. A triggerer actually sent me a smoker. You got to reach out to them.

I got to hit me up. I will Instagram the shit out of it. I'll do anything for free.

Yeah. They sent me a smoker and I started practicing. The great thing about it is it's really hard to mess up with a trigger because you can use it off your phone. For example, if I do a brisket, it takes me 10 hours. But if I'm on my phone, I can just turn it off whenever I want, wheneverwhere I need to. It tells me what the temperature of the meat is, whatever, and then I can turn it off just from my phone. It connects to your internet. It's so convenient. I got a traiger. The Tri-Tip and the picana takes about three hours. Brisket takes 10-14 hours. Then the beef ribs could take like six hours, depending on what you do. Whatever you like, everybody's different. Then if you want to do a steak on it, even the steak tastes better on it. I'm a big fan of the smoker.

I know this is supposed to be an MMA podcast, but I am curious about this. How much space does one of these take up? Because in my mind, I'm thinking about where I can put this.

It's tiny compared to all the other grilles. Those built-in in the house, those are huge. This is much smaller. You can move it anywhere you want. Mine is in the backyard. I just have to be careful because the dogs, they'll chew the cord. I've had to buy new cords. But besides that, man, it's great.

What dog have you got?

I've got two German shepherds and a truala.

This is my guy. This is Alphae.

There we go. Yeah.

He's no longer with us.

He looks like he was about 100 pounds, right?

He was a big old boy. He was a big old boy.

Yeah. Mine are female and they're both 80 pounds and I think they're mixes. They're not 100% German Shepherd, but they look like German Shepherds. But they're just, bro, they're full of energy. They never stop.

Yeah. He passed away. He had what's called a fistula, basically scar tissue covered over his ass. He couldn't pass. He couldn't take a dump. Yeah, it was awful. Then they put a balloon up his ass, they pump it up, and it's terrible. I'm serious. It's terrible to scar tissue. That cost five grand. Then it came back. His head was big. But if you say his head was this big, his body was this big. He just couldn't go. Bless him. In the end, they had to let him go.

What cause is that?

It was just the breeding. You know what I mean? It's his own immune system because of the over-breeding. His own immune system attacked him and it caused scar tissue to block. It was the most undignified way to go, bro. It's a very, very nasty way to go.

It sounds awful. He was 100% Shepherd, right, Jeremy Shepherd? Yeah. Okay. Jeez, man, that sucks.

The pure breeds, man. The pure breeds. Anyway, let's get back up to some facts. I'm going to start crying in a minute, the Lightweight division, it's one of... Well, it is the most stacked. It's got the biggest stars right now. What's going on with the champ? Is that Makachev? He's going to fight Charles O'Levera, right?

That's what I'm hearing. He's going to fight Charles and they're aiming for February, right? I still see Makachev coming out ahead in that one, but I think it'll be a much tougher fight. I think if Charles comes in with a good mindset, he's very difficult. He can obviously upset the champion. I'm not downplaying his skills. Then I've heard Justin Gagey is basically lined up for right after that. In some ways, I guess, the vision is going to be a little slow next year.

Yeah. Obviously, you've been in there with Charles. It was a competitive fight until he got you with that headkick and the left hook. But it was you were doing fantastically. But Charles has had an incredible career. As somebody that's been in there with him? How does he feel? Is it strength? Is it intensity? Because you controlled him on the ground, even though he's known for his jiu-jitsu and he's got the most submissions. But what was the one thing that maybe you could highlight that really afterwards you step back and you were like, Wow, that surprised me.

I don't know if I would say he surprised me, but he definitely takes a lot of risks. Even when he tried to take me down, he did it in a way where he put himself in a bad position and then ended up on bottom. That's something that really stands out. He takes big risks. Even more than I thought.

Yeah. Assuming you go out there, you get the job done and get some of them. Ultimately, you want to get your hands on these and make a check. Let's just say you have to have two more fights. What would you think? Do you think that sounds about accurate? This one and one more and then maybe you get a shot at the belt?

Yeah, it depends on who I fight after this. Lord-willing, I win this fight. It's who I fight after this, right? It's one of those situations. Because like you said, U-of-C 300 would just support it, that pretty much guarantees the title shot, I think. But if I get somebody who's not so well-known, then it's a little bit tricky.

You think Islam is still going to be the guy? Do you think ultimately that's who you will face for the belt?

I think so. I think his style seems to be Charles'trip tonight because he's got a very patient style and he allows Charles to make mistakes.

Yeah, of course. I hope that day comes because you deserve it, Benial. You really do. We'll let you go in just a second. Austin, Texas. What's the vibe like? What are you making of Austin so far?

Well, they got a lot of green haired and blue haired people. That's the only one I.

Would- That says it all. Oh, my God. Are you serious?

It throws me off. I was really surprised. I'm in Texas. I was waiting for cowboy hats.

You know what? Everyone's leaving California and they're going to Austin, Texas.

Yeah. That was one thing that I was like, Okay, that's interesting. But got to give them credit. They got really good food so far. The family is happy with the food. What else? Their coffee is not bad, is from what I hear. I got to test it out, but I can't have coffee till after the fight, so it's a process.

Why don't you have coffee?

I started working with Sam Calavita recently, and he's not big on coffee. Sam is from the training lab. He's just a really smart guy, and he explains why it's not a good idea to have coffee. I've been trying my best not to have coffee. Interesting.

I am interested about that. I was watching a video this morning with Andrew Huberman, and they were talking about specifically this. Can't remember any of the big words that they used, but it basically takes away from your natural energy, so on and so forth. All right, bud. Listen, perfect, Will. Sad, didn't I? How do you get your hand raised?

Man, I really want to finish. I think he's never been finished before. I really want to finish. I think in order to pull that off, I have to come at him pretty hard. I have to put the pressure on and not stop.

I'm looking forward to it, buddy. I'll see you there. I'll speak to you in person on Thursday for the fighter meetings. Thanks again for taking the time. I know you got a full schedule this week, so if you get any downtime, enjoy yourself. Good luck in the fight. And I'll see you soon.

I appreciate it, brother. Take care.

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All right, so today's first question is going to be from a very German man named Thomas Oasman.

Oh, God. Don't play this shit. I thought it was going to be Roland Wixar.

It's a different German funny, but I thought this guy was great. 1212, B-O-I-M-Crew. This is Tom in Berlin. Hello. So I've been doing some different combat trainings about the past year here in Berlin. So needless to say, I'm still totally shit. But anyway, I was doing some stand up MMA training the other week, 20 minutes into the class, we're in pairs. I front kicked my partner, he blocks. I look down and I see that my second toe next to my big toe was pointing out like this. I thought, shit, I guess I'm supposed to do something about that. So I reached down and I snapped it back, more or less, into place, seemed to be okay. So we carried on training for the next 40 minutes. And then afterwards, I realized, I guess I should go to hospital. And now I have to have my toes taped up for six weeks and I can't train. I'm wondering, for Michael and Anthony, have you ever had a training session or a fight where you or your partner or opponent snapped something that you then snapped back into place? That's the question. Mike, you're an inspiration. Love you, Anthony.

You're a future champion. Brian, love you. Harrington. The maximum you can agree with something is a hundred %. If you ever say a thousand % again, I will come to your house while you're sleeping. I will come to your bed. I will pull your intestines out through your asshole, and I will stuff them down your throat.

Well, that's original. There wasn't the old F. Harrington at the end. And I will say there's people that do say I'm going to give this 150 %. I do have an issue with that. It's cringe. Have you been in the habit? I haven't noticed this. I generally I ignore everything you say. You've been out there saying 1,000 %?

Oh, he's been doing it for years, Mike.

Yeah, that guy's right. A million %, for sure.

Oh, God. Well, first of all, thank you for the question, buddy. Hope the toes heal up. You're going to be fine. You've sprained your toe. You've dislocated your toe. It's not life-threatening. So grow up. No, you're just.

Dismembering me with that messed up toe, dude.

Dude, it's life-threatening. It's life-threatening, man. Yeah, many times. In fact, the last time I did jiu-jitsu in a guill, I was grappling. I grabbed the thing. And this is why I don't like training in a guill because there's more injuries, certainly for me anyway, because I'm more used to non-guill. I don't do a lot of jiu-jitsu these days, even though I'm getting back into it. But yeah, last time I was in a guill, I think I talked about it at the time, and this thing is a bit swollen. I did something and then I looked from this knuckle here, it was sideways. I was like, Oh, shit. But when I made a fist, it just naturally clicked back in, and it was painful for a few weeks, but it was fine. What about you, Hans? And you ever dislocated anything?

Nothing that I can think of. Never popped a shoulder out, or I'm surprised, honestly. I can't tell you how often it happens in Lethal Weapon movies when I was watching as a kid. I assume my entire 30s would just be popping my shoulders back in. Hasn't happened yet.

That's a good one. I must admit, as a kid, I thought that was the coolest thing ever. Oh, my God. I want to blow out. I want to dislocate my shoulder just so I can do that. You know what I mean?

I can do that. Give me one second. I'm going to pop off and take off my sweatshirt. I can do it a little bit. I probably shouldn't. It really sucks, but I'll be right back.

Sounds like you might have some deficiency going on there, Brian. Maybe up your potassium. You know what I mean? Maybe up your calcium, your.

Protein, everything.

Just get some vitamins and minerals in you for crying out loud, brother. My God. I don't think I've ever broken a bone. I mean, like a big bone. I've broken a nose, my fingers are manled. That's why I can't wear a wedding ring.

I can do this, and then I can... Like, my shoulder is out now.

Oh, I see that. Yeah.

I could just pull it out.

So how do you put it back in?

Just like that.

That's it? It's back in?

Yeah.

You don't have to smack it against the car?

No, it's very easy. So a long time ago, I was rolling with my brother, and he was on my back, and I tried to be a fucking strong man and post up on one arm, and it just fucking boop. And now I can just do that.

Well, there you go. There's your party trick. Yeah, haven't broken an arm or a leg, anything like that, so that's good. Well, Anthony. Anthony would be a better man to answer this question than you, Harrit. No offense. I know you've got a very, very in-depth amount of experience when it comes to combat sports these days, but you know what I mean?

The most I've ever gotten injured in combat sports is I sprained my ankle on the way to the gym.

Paddy Timlet took him a year out for that same injury.

He.

Got his in the cage, though.

Yeah, he did. And it wasn't a sprained ankle. It's a joke. Brian, what else we got, buddy?

All right. Now we have a slightly more grotesque question here from a guy in an ER. His name is Matt.

Hey, guys. Matt from Toledo here. I was at work tonight.

And.

I work at a pretty rough hospital here in Toledo as an ER nurse. I found myself absolutely covered in blood tonight, and it made me think of a question for you guys. How difficult is it during a fight or training to keep.

Blood spit.

Gross, bodily fluids like that out of your eyes and mouth?

I imagine it's got to be.

Pretty hard. I was thinking about that.

Palo Costa, Luke, Rockhold fight.

Oh, my God, that shit is disgusting. So I was wondering how.

Difficult is it to keep yourself safe.

In that regard during a fight or training? Thanks, guys.

Hope you all.

Had a happy Thanksgiving.

Take care.

Well, thank you very much. It's funny you mentioned that because I was talking about this yesterday. In a fight, you don't care because the adrenaline is going through the roof. You don't care. You're not thinking about sweat. You're not thinking about blood. It doesn't matter. Granted, there is some fights where I'm sure some of the fighters were aware of it. I'm trying to think of some. What's this one that's to mind? It was over the top of the other and blood was just pouring out of the head. What fight was that? Regardless, I'm sure whoever it was was like, That's a lot of blood that is potentially infecting me right now. But generally, when it comes to little bits of blood and and sweat, you don't care. But in training, it's very different. I remember being on my back many times with big, horrible, sweaty, smelly men that resemble Harrington. And one guy in particular was profusely sweating and like a long stream of sweat, like about four or five drops in one, came, I saw it come down his head, down his cheek to his chin, blink, came off and went right in my mouth.

You know what I mean? And because it's only the training room, you don't have the same adrenaline, of course. I remember tasting how salty it was. And it was quite literally disgusting. It was fucking gross. But yeah, other than that, I can't think of anything, really.

So at that point, do you just do you shove him off like, Dude, gross.

Or you think-Well, I don't do it quite like that. No, I don't do it like I'm trying out for some gay guy in a rom-com. Oh, gross. Oh, my God. Get off me. No, I don't do it like that. I say, For fuck's sake, bro, can you just wipe yourself down or something? Do you know what I mean? My God. Harrington is bloody playing the leading dudes too. Do you mean? Yeah, don't ever do that again. No, I don't know. I don't know, man. I don't know. Are we not going to have a better question than that, Brian. Is that the one you choose? Is that what the believers? Is that the quality we're getting these days?

Well, I could ask if you guys want to commentate Boogerbeard's fight?

No. Okay. No offense to Boogerbeard.

I have a question from a pig man about the size of your dick.

That's a no.

I have.

A question. Very large for the record.

I have another one where a guy just talks to us about his idea for the USC's future for two minutes.

That's a no.

Okay. Then I got this one here from Cam from Australia.

Hello, Believe You Me podcast. This question is coming from Cam from.

Adelaide, South Australia.

I'd love to know who you think is the most overrated person to win a title in the NFL and who's the most underrated person to never win a title.

I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Cheers. Cameron from South Australia, Adelaide, shout out Adelaide, was there recently? My wife is from Adelaide, not born and bred, but that's what she calls her home city, if you will. Beautiful place. Had a great time there. That's a calm. I appreciate it. I'm not going to sit here other than say myself. I'm the most overrated. There you go. I said it for you. Everyone in the chat is probably thinking that already. There's no way I'm not going to do that. I'm not going to berate someone's ultimate crown and glory, their big achievement other than having children and stuff. Talking about in combat sports, it doesn't get much bigger than that. I am not going to fucking sit here with my Hall of Fame statue behind me and discredit that. I just can't do it. But I will say who's the best fighter never to be a champion? Well, Dustin Poirier is one of them. He was an interim champ, though, right? He was the interim champ. Justin Gage, he brings to mind, but he was an interim champ. Tom Aspinos won, but he's an interim champ.

I have a question about that. So you have belts at home from when you won the title. Do interim champs get to keep their belt? Or is that like... Okay. So then that counts. It doesn't say interim on the belt.

Yeah, it does not say interim on the belt. It does not say interim on the belt. I'm trying to think, though. Who's another... Brian, stay on. Stay on. I don't just have to look at Harrington that way. I agree. There's some of the other fights that haven't won a belt yet that are beltworthy for whatever reason the stars haven't aligned.

The standard examples I go to are guys like Joseph Benavides.

That's a good shout. Joseph Benavides, for sure.

I'm just trying to think of guys who were constantly at the top of the division, played gatekeeper for the champion for years and years, but never got over the hump. I mean, Gus of Sin, Spreings of Mind.

Gus of Sin is a good one. Chels Sonom was right there for a while.

The Diaz brothers, right? You could make the argument for them.

Rumble.

Yeah, the Diaz is a really good shout.

I.

Mean, nick fought for the bell what? Twice? He fought Kandy and he fought George Saint-Pierre. He fought for an interim man for the Undisputed. He had two opportunities. Anyway, there it is. There it is. I want to say a big thank you, Tom, Cheeto, and Benio. Best of luck. We're going to be back on Thursday with another stellar lineup of guests. Anthony, I don't know. Mon would assume that he's not going to be here Thursday. I'm sure he's got a lot on his plate. He may be, he may not. Don't worry, I'm going to fill up the slide with tremendous guests. So wherever you are in the world, thanks for watching. We'll see you on Thursday.