Let me ask you about this as well, because this is crazy. This weekend, Elia Toporia, Volkanovski. Great fight. Yesterday, I was speaking to Toporia. He says, because I heard this, so I asked him about it. I did an interview. When he's cutting away on the Thursday night, he drinks half a liter of wine. And he said, Most rooms, everyone's the sad, the angry, the hungry, the mood is very... You know how it is You cut him away. It sucks, right? He said in his room, everyone's getting drunk. They're playing music, they're singing, they're dancing. Half a liter of wine, that's a lot of glasses of wine, right? And then he wakes up the next morning and he's way lighter. And I was like, That just sounds batshit crazy.

But he's doing it for real?

100%. That's what he does. He drinks half a liter of wine.

I'll be so drunk, I can't go over the other day, I cannot drink. I don't drink. When I used to drink, I used to be so weak. I get one beer or one something that was crazy, upside down, going crazy, talking crazy. That's why I stopped because I said, Bro, if I drink one cup, if I drink one little bee, and then I get it makes me go crazy. I don't think it's good for me. I slow down and I stop it, I don't drink. If I drink a little bit of that, I'm going to be so hangover the other day. That's what I'm fighting. No.

That's what I said. I said, Did you not have a crazy headache? And then I'm like, I've been doing it wrong this whole time. When I was training for a fight, I never drink. I'm like, I should have been getting fucking drunk this whole time. I would have been champion of the goddamn world. When's the last time you had a drink, Gilbert?

I think three years ago, maybe.

Four? Yeah. Well, good for you. Well done. You're still down at Kill Cliff?

Yes, we're here at Kill Cliff. We're doing a good work. By the way, that fight is going to be insane, Topurya and Volkanovske. Who are you going to win in this fight?

Well, I'm commentating, so I can't say.

You can't say?

Well, because it's disrespectful, right? It's not very professional for me to say, I think this guy is going to win. But you can. You can say who wins.

I like both guys, to be honest. Topurya came, he did a camp here. He's a monster. That guy, he's a great grappler, great striking, great wrestling, good takedown defense, good takedown offensive. He knocked a couple of guys down bad. He hits that hard. He's that good. He's very good. Nice guy, too, though. I like Vukovsky a lot, too. A monster. He don't have another I just don't like what he was saying. I don't like the motivation to the fight. I think every fight, you have a little motivation. You want to become a champion. I like the motivation for Tupouya better now. He wants to become a champion. He believes he's going to be the champion. I just saw a little feature of Volkanovski. I got a fight on short notice because I have to fight. Meaning I had a little mental wish to shoot when I don't have a day, when I don't have a fight. Then he got a fight on short notice, then he got knocked out. I think, my opinion, I'm not judging, it's just my opinion. It's not a fact, too. He got a final short notice, right? End up losing.

You got a final short notice. I got a final short notice. You become a champion, freaking short notice. But you know even better, sometimes it's a good decision. Sometimes your body feels good. Sometimes you don't regret. Like, Man, that was a good thing. But sometimes it's not. It's not every time that you get fired on short notice, that means things are going your way. I just think he made a mistake because he I just lost the guy in a short notice. High away cut. He said he was drinking the whole week. So obviously, it wasn't a good decision. So now, if I just made If I made a mistake, if I made a bad decision, now I got to make a good decision, right? So now I got to try to me, I try to fix what I did wrong. He's still trying to know, but now I got to write that wrong. I need to fight again. I need another day, bro. You're still doing the same mistake. Relax. Freaking concussion protocol, how long is that? It's different to everybody. But that was a freaking high kick in the way division guy. How long was that?

It was October, wasn't it? November, December, January, four months. That's not bad.

I know, but he sport a lot for this fight. That's what it meant. It's not that he was four months without getting hit. You know what I mean? He's been getting hit at least two months. He's at least sporting for this fight. So I just don't like that. Why are you hurry, bro? You're the champion. Relax. You try your thing, it didn't work. No problem. Take a little time, clean up the room, clean up the house, you relax. Relax, take your time, go back.

Get the brush out, get them up. Relax. Take the kids to school.

But don't hurry. So with that being said, because he's hurrying, he's pushing, he tried to prove something, I don't like that motivation. I got to put your winnie in. Not for personal because I do like both guys a lot. But that motivation from Topurier, I don't know, I think it's a little bit better.

If I'm hearing you rightly, Gilbert, I think what you're saying is, and I know you're a very respectful guy, but you think that maybe it's—and I hope this doesn't come across wrong— maybe a little bit of a mental weakness because he's so bothered about the loss. He wants to get back in there real quick and erase that. But potentially, that's a big risk, and it could end up going wrong.

I would not say mental weakness, but I would say it's a little bit his ego trying to... I do think that ego got to be in control. Even that freaking ego that we do have, that we want to compete, that we want to... Sometimes it's got to be on check. Sometimes we got to... Especially, he's a freaking champion of the world. Like, amongst it, have nothing to prove. You lost to Islam. Okay, was a couple of No, there's no problem. My guy, take your time. Relax, get better. Oh, I have a problem. If I don't have a day, work on that problem, solve that problem, fix that problem. Then he comes back, relax. The world is not going to finish. I mean, we don't know, but the work is not supposed to not finish in three months and four months. Relax. I don't like that. I still like the guy a lot, and I hope he does a good job. But I I don't bet you, but if I was betting, I'll put money into Pouria because I think that motivation to become a champion, the guys come like...

So Saturday night, Spain/Georgia has the first ever champion of the world. That's what you're saying?

I think so, yeah.

Man, don't say that. I love both. Do you know what? I love them both. I was talking to Toporia yesterday as well, and he really won me over. They're just such a nice guy because the things you You see online makes you think that he's really arrogant. But I spoke to him and this guy was so respectful and he was confident, of course, because as far as we got to be confident, but he was a great guy. And Bokunovski, the exact same thing.

It's going to be a phenomenon. They're both nice guys. And another thing, too, another thing. We lost by KO to KO, right? We hate that, but it happens. How did you come back on the next fight, Bishvin?

How did I come back?

Yeah, on the next fight, maybe a little...

Yeah, I know what you're saying. When I got knocked out against Dan Henderson, when I came back, I was like, You're a little worried. I hope that doesn't go away.

I hope that stays here.

Yeah, but you don't know. And it's a good point what you bring up. These are real questions. Number one, there's everyone saying because he's 35 now and there's this statistic that over 35, it's hard to win the fight, and he's a lightweight. Then when you get the knockout, at some point, I know he wasn't asleep, but still, he did get kicked in the head. I understand what you're saying, but you never know. I guess there's only one way to sell this.

Yeah, we're going to watch it. He gets in the obstacle. Yes, sir. They fight. I just don't like those questions. We shouldn't be answering those questions. If he relax a little bit, take his time, those questions will be all answered. But freaking guy, he's a monster. You got to respect that. He don't care. He's going to come to the fight. So it should be a great fight.

Yeah, Vokunovski, he's one of the coolest guys as well. He really is. He's like, there's no ego to him at all. Same with you, Gilbert. I message some people. I say, Can you get on the podcast? Vokunovski, you always say yes, even though I changed the time 15 times. Vokunovski is like, straight away, other people are like, You got to go through my manager. And I'm like, Kiss my ass, man. Go through your manager?

Fuck off. No respect to the fighters, right? We're fighters.

Come on. Yeah. It's like, Come on, dude. I'll jump on your podcast. Outside of the training and the fight coming up soon, what else you've been doing? I know you've been looking after the kids. You've been making the American breakfast. Anything new in the world of Gilbert Birds?

Not much, to be honest. No, a lot of focus on the fight. A lot of focus on the fight right now. I'm zoning out, taking everything away, and then zoning in the fight. Then a couple of weeks, you got two and a half more weeks of training. They in a fight week. So right now, not much just focus on the fight, recovery. For sure, stay with the family, spend a lot of time with the family, but focus on the fight right now.

Real quick, what do you think about Kevin Holland and Michael Vennen-Page? Obviously, Page is making his UFC debut. Kevin Holland, we all know and love this guy. How do you think that fight goes?

Good fight, good match up. It's going to be interesting, too. Especially, they're probably not going to grapple. It's going to be an interesting stand-up fight with freaking two awkward guy with crazy style. I don't know. I don't know who is. I don't know. I think if MVP wins, he's going to shake up the division a little bit. But even if Kevin wins, we'll see. I don't know. I like this fight. I'm not even putting so much attention, but it's going to be a good fight. I like this fight.

Okay, and then let's bring it back to you. You fought for the Bell, You had a really great fight against Kamara Hujmen. You are still one of the top welterwears in the world. It was a shame what happened last time, but it is what it is. Does the drive to be the champion, it's still there, it's still the same, it's still the goal, right?

100%. When I'm not, I don't think. I do think, I still believe it's going to happen. I still have a lot of fight. That's where it get me training. That's where it literally will get me going. I think if I cannot make it or it's got one loss and then it got another loss, I'm done because I'm not. I can do a lot of things. I can become Michael Beasby, go do a little commentary, make a podcast, get a couple of sponsor, get a couple of seminars. I can make money without fighting. I just like to fight and I want to become the best. But I don't think I'm going to be fighting just for paycheck, like a lot of guys do. Or you want to be a champion? No, I just want to make money. That's my health and risk. If it's not to become a champion, no way I'm going to do. I'm going to teach, I'm going to podcast, I'm going to do all the things. But right now, I want to become a champion. I'm all lean to become a champion. I think I'm super close. Number four now in the words.

Bidding Jack Madalena, just bidding, just winning, I don't think you're going to do so much. But if I go I go there and I make a statement, really finish this guy, show him levels, this division, that him and everyone know that I've been fighting the best guys in the world for years, not for one year, but for four, five years in the top of this division, fighting who is who in this division. If I go there and really do what I want to do with this guy, I think I'm going to be very close to get another title shot.

Yeah. Well, I hope it goes your way. Well, may the best man win because I like Jack as well. But I Just last thing because I was going to say goodbye, but you just said there, If it didn't go your way, you'd probably retire. I was talking to Henry Sahudo, and he said the same thing. He said, If I lose to Marab on Saturday night, he said, That's it, I'm done. He said, I'm not here just to make a living. I want to be the champion. And if I can't win and I can't be the champion, I'm done. And I respected that so much because you're right, there is a lot of people, you make good money, you get attention, you You get sponsors, you get the cheers and the fans and all the rest of it. But he is only, and you, of course, only interested in becoming the champion. For sure.

I think he's a lot of room to make money outside of that. I'm not going to say retired. I'm never going to put that word on my mouth until I say it. I'm not even putting that like, but I'm here for the win. I'm not going to do everything in my power get this win, but I don't want to be that guy that... We know that that guy never going to become a champion. He don't even want it, but he just want to be around. I don't want to be this guy. I'm here to become a champion. I do good fights, entertaining everyone that is there, watching the fights, the people, guys that are at home watching the fights. I want them to be entertaining. I want them to feel my energy when I'm fighting. I'm going out there to destroy this guy, to put on a show and to become a champion. That's the goal.

Well, you always put a show on, Gilbert. Whether or not you've got a torn shoulder or not, we love watching you. Gilbert, thanks for your time today, brother. Really, really appreciate.