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Conceive, believe, achieve. Shut the f up.

You're listening to believe you me with Michael the Count Bisbing-You know my name yet? And Anthony Lionhardt-Smith.

How's everything? How are you feeling? Obviously, last time we saw you in an octagon was against Islam. You were very honest about the emotions that we all go through as fighters. So how's everything since then?

Everything's good, mate. Everything's really good. Obviously, yeah, man, as you said, everyone does go through times. I'm not there very often, but I just was. There was a lot happening at the time, and that fight just come up, and I thought, you know what? It was meant to be. So that made the decision easier for me, too. It was exciting and get me back into the swing of things. And then obviously, it didn't go my way, and then I was concussed. And then there's a camera in front of my face. So what do you do?

I've said 10 times worse. What are you saying? I've said much, much worse in my day.

Yeah. So that's why I was, obviously, had mixed emotions of people seeing me like that. But then I was like, look, everyone gets on that. It's just not everyday cameras in some of these people's faces. I'm all good with it. Like I said, I'm all good.

No, I think people really found it refreshing. You know what I mean? And I think generally, when guys like ourselves, fighters people that the general masses look up to as alpha males and tough guys, we're just as vulnerable. What goes on in here still affects us. You know what I mean?

I mean, well, for us to get to where we are, there's something that obviously makes us tick, makes us want to achieve all these things. And then sometimes that could be a bit as well, that competitiveness, challenging yourself, whatever it is. There's so much that... And then obviously the pressure of trying to be a good dad and everything as well. You You want to make sure you're home, but you should be in care of all this stuff. Am I getting old? You start to go, look, there's a time running out. I need to get things done. That's why I always say, Keep me busy. It's not purely because of anything other than, I want to capitalize on my time. I know I don't have 10 years left, but I'm in my prime. I want to capitalize on that. So get me going. You know what I mean? And I'm uneasy if I'm not capitalizing making my family money. That's how it is, because I'm happy to kill myself. I'm happy to kill myself in the gym and put my body through whatever I have to to make sure I provide for my family. And when I'm not bashing myself, you know what I mean?

It just doesn't seem right. So I was like, get me in Give me a fight so I can get in there and do what I do best.

Yeah, well, I totally resonate 100 %. Last one on that, because there's a lot to talk about with the next fight coming up just around the corner as well. Now you've watched your back and now you've had a bit of time to think about it. Do you regret taking the fight?

I don't get taken the fight. So a lot of people are silly, short notice. I stand by taking short notice because I always would because I always would because of the guy I've always been. And I've always been in the gym. I've always been disciplined. And I've always been in good nick. You wouldn't see a time of the year where I'm not in good nick. I'm always Training. But if there was ever a time, it was that time. I'm so upset and disappointed myself of the timing. Like I said, obviously, the new barbs trying to help as much as I could, the injury, the surgery. I wasn't able to get in the gym. I was heavy I was heavy, I was drinking. I just wasn't being the professional, disciplined guy that I always am. And that opportunity come where usually 99 % of the time I can take them fights. You know what I mean? But I I wasn't in a gym. I'm not making excuses. I knew that going in. I thought I told myself, this is just how my brain works, is how spiders will work as well. I told myself, even though I knew I wasn't in the gym, I knew I was heavy, I knew I was like, look, I know I'm not in good, nick, but this is going to make me dangerous because I know I'm going to pull the trigger and I know I got nothing to lose.

So you know what I mean? And when I say nothing to lose, I can't sit there and beat this guy all five rounds. I need to go and finish. He's going to be... I'm usually very calculated. I got no time to be calculated in there This is going to make me the most dangerous I've ever been. And I told myself that. The fact that I wasn't in the gym is making me more dangerous because I know I ain't beating him any other way to put one on his chin, and that's that. So I'm going to find it. So I told myself that, but It just did not go that way. I just couldn't pull the trigger. Obviously not sparring. I wasn't doing any sparring because obviously the surgery. I just started sparring and I wasn't in the gym much. And I thought it wouldn't be a problem, but just trying to let the hands I was just talking myself, come on, you got to go. Come on, you got to go. But in the gym, that's why I'm such a big believer in preparation. You need to see when the shots are there. See, I'm known for throwing volume.

I do that so I make people fight my fight. I don't let I didn't set things up. I don't give them time to do that. And I did none of that. And he was obviously going to the kick, which is a great set. I'm not taking that for the way for him. I even knew that he would use that because I knew I was going to be at a closer range. I was aware that he would be I'm not smashing the body, I'll be in range for it. But I thought I'd do things off it. I thought we had tricks. I had things that I wanted to do off him. And obviously, I was aware that he might mix up all levels, whether it is the leg, body, and high. But I thought I'll just be able to put more in front of him to just suppress his volume. And I just did not do that. And that's why, without giving my game away, but that's why you see me doing so much in there. I'm lucky, I just don't stop, right? Because I make people fight my fight, and that's that.

Yeah, but don't beat yourself up, Valk. I mean, that was some legendary shit that you attempted to do. So you know what I mean? Nothing but respect for myself. And I'm sure everyone in the fight community. So that's just the way it goes, man. You're fighting one of the best people to ever, ever do it. Anyway, as you said, you want to keep busy. You want to stay making money for your family. And true to your word and true to your style, you're fucking right back in there. Ilia Teporia around the corner next month. My hometown, well, I say hometown is where I live now. I'll be commentating the fight. I'm very excited for it. Talk to me about this matchup with Teporia.

Yeah, good matchup. Obviously, there's a lot of hype around him, unde. I think this is just the perfect bounceback fight for me as well. There's going to be a lot of hype around him. A lot of people, he's dangerous. Look, he is dangerous. He's a powerful dude. He's unde. You know what I mean? That's a story in itself. And then you got the story of what happened in my last fight. And then people are like, oh, is he coming back too soon? All this is a part of the story. When When I look at it, I'm like, mate, I've been in camp for that long. I don't know how people are. I'm hearing people like, oh, he's back too soon. I just can't see it. I'm like, man, I've been busting my ass for that long. What do you mean? I've had that much time. This has been a very long camp for me. Obviously, I followed all the protocols after it, from concussion and that. I'm lucky enough to have a great team around me. We followed that to a T. And that's why the fight was pushed back a month because we just thought January was rushing.

Obviously, I could have done camp, but it was me rushing into camp where we wanted them that extra month where I could look after it, ease into it, then start camp. And that's what we did, mate. It's great. So obviously, one bit about it being too soon. I'm not doing It's just to get my head right. You know what I mean? I'm doing this because I want to be active, I want to be busy, and I know it's enough time. Obviously, I know that now.

That's a lot of time. Exactly. Four months, mate.

I get a lot of people, a A lot of people are going to sit there and say there's the mental side of things. And I get that. Some people probably are, but I'm just different. I go into every fight. I'm a pretty confident guy where I believe the only chance a lot of these guys that I fight is by beating me, is by catching me. So it's not like, I'm going to... Or now he got finished, now he's going to second get. I always fight smart. I always try and be calculated. I always make sure that there's If I lose, the good chance of that happening is from getting caught. I'm aware of that. And I've always been that through my whole career. So I don't see like nothing has changed for me, even in the gym, like sparring. And everything's just the exact same. A lot of people, I don't know, people will talk about it. I'm like, oh, maybe with other people, but it's just not the case with me. So I feel like it's just another camp, I'm busting my ass, put myself through the ringer like I always do. And that's just that.

Yeah. People, I have seen on last, it's too quick, it's too soon. Four months is a long time. You follow the correct protocol. I can only think back to my experiences when I got absolutely flat-lined by Dan Henderson, and I was out for a long, long time. Couldn't remember three months of my life. I was back in there four months later, and I felt great. Okay, psychologically, I was a little more nervous, I think, going into that one. But then once I got tracked, once, I was good. I was fine. And you know the score, you're just on autopilot. This guy's undefeated. Would Can you say that this is your toughest challenge? I mean, obviously, Max Holloway is regarded as the next best featherweight, but he's doing some... He's having some great performances to Poria. What do you think of him as a match? Yeah, for sure.

Look, I think he's a good match-up, and I think He's undefeated. Look, he hasn't fully tested himself with guys like myself or Max Holloway or like Aaron Riege or something. So I've questioned that. I've said that. You know what I mean? But that's not knocking as if he's not at that level. It's just we haven't seen it yet. So that's why a lot of hype where I was like, look, obviously there's always going to be levels. We have to see where his levels at. You know what I mean? And we will see February 17th. I'm very confident. I think he's a dangerous guy. When we talk about how dangerous he is, I think he's powerful. I think he's probably one of the most powerful punches I've faced, you could probably say. Obviously, you've got guys like a zombie, but I think his boxing is pretty tidy. He's always very, very well balanced and very well-based when he's firing. And so he's always powerful when he froze. So that's something that if you get caught slipping, it could be a bad night. So he's that type of fighter. I mean, I fought guys like that, obviously.

I fought very dangerous guys in like Yai and Riegas, who probably has a few other problems. But then you got a Tuporia there where he hasn't really He's been showing his wrestling side of things lately. But I mean, he does have a wrestling background and a grappling background. He's the same build as me, so I'm guessing he'll be strong. He'll be good in the scrambles. So there could be problems in other areas as well. So I think he's a great match. I think it's going to be a fun fight. But again, I'm always back on myself. I'm expected to go out there. And I'm preparing, as I always do, I always prepare for the worst. I'm preparing for the best version of Ilia to pour out possible. That's how I just always prepare. And so there's never any surprises for me when I go into these fights because I'm always training for the best version of someone. And they're usually better I'm usually preparing for something better than they usually are. So sometimes I go into these fights and I make it look easy. But in preparation, it wasn't easy. You know what I mean?

I didn't make it easy. I make it look easy fight night. But that's just how I train. And that's why mentally, I'm always ready for whatever challenge comes my way on the night. And I can make them adjustments because I've seen it all in camp. I make sure I always see it all.

But that's where the fights were in training camp. Even though the fights were easy, you absolutely killed yourself in training camp, and that's why it looked easy. As you were chatting there, I just looked at his record because as you mentioned, the powerful hands. And that's what I think of because he does have beautiful boxing. Only got four knockouts on his record. Eight submissions, though. Fighting Islam Makhachev two times in a row, Yey Rodriguez in between that. The takedown defense side of thing ain't going to be an issue. The submissions ain't going to be an issue. So the hands, the box in, primarily, that's the main threat from your perspective.

Yeah, I think so. Look, I think I can handle... Well, I've shown that I can handle the wrestling grappling with the best people in the world, even in heavier divisions. So even if he is better than I expect him on the ground, it's not something that I'm not used to. I'm going to have Craig Jones the next four, five weeks. You know what I mean? And that's who's going I'm going to be one of my main grappling training partners. So if you're getting kicked in that, you are kicked by someone like that for that long, how am I going to be surprised? So it's usually... That's just how I am. I put myself... A lot of people, they say, let's be I'm uncomfortable being uncomfortable, but I want to know how uncomfortable they really do put themselves. I put myself in losing positions all the time. I'm fine to get submitted by guys like Craig Jones. You know what I mean? I'm not going to hide away from that. I want to be able to be there. Them submissions get less and less and less. When I used to wrestle and grappling him, I'll get submitted bloody 10 times in one grappling round.

You know what I mean? And then it just gets less and less. And now it's not easy to submit me at all. So that's how you get yourself better. That's how you get yourself resilient. That's how you get yourself beautiful. That's how you go. That's how you get yourself prepared and calm and composed when shit hits the fan. And it can always hit the fan, but you no idea or deal with shit in the fan very well.

Yeah. It's like I always say to my son when I pick him up from jiu-jitsu, first thing I say to him, I say, Did you get tapped tonight? And when he says, Yes, I'm happy. And at first, he never understood why on my son, because that means, A, you're getting pushed. Do you know what I mean? Because you don't want to be the best guy in the room. But the fact that you're getting tapped, you're learning lessons subconsciously. You don't realize it, but you're getting tapped and you're learning not to do that shit again. So Bantamwe champion, Sean O'Malley, you've probably seen this. He's called out Elia Teporea if Teporea wins this fight. One, what do you make of that? Secondly, why do you think he's not just called out the winner? Why do you not think he's calling you out?

Well, look, again, he's a clever dude. Obviously, I think I've even... Because I don't mind Sean Amali, actually. I don't mind this- I like Sean a lot.

Just when I saw that, I'm like, Why aren't you just calling out the winner? Not talking shit, Sean, but it's a fair question.

I didn't mind you. I wasn't saying you were, but I actually listen to his podcast here and there. Sometimes So things will come up, things, and I'll have a look at it or someone send it to me. And he's made it pretty clear. He's like, yeah, I don't know if I'd want to fight Bob Konoski. You know what I mean? He made it clear. He's like, that's something that I don't think I'd want. Maybe the other guy. So it's like he knows there's a bit of history with Tuporia because they talk. And he's just being smart. If Tuporia does get it done, is he going to bet on it and stuff? Or he's not loud, but would he? Probably not. He's He'll be backing me, but at the same time, he's clever. He's going to have a safe net. Look, this is a good option for me to go double champ. There's history there. I can move up and fight someone that he probably looks at us like, I'm pretty comfortable. I can do that fight. With me, he probably doesn't feel as comfortable. I'm sure he backs himself. We all back ourselves, but he probably looks at that fight and he's like, he's pretty well-rounded.

It's going to be hard. There's a lot of ways where Tepora maybe sees he's going to try and stand with me. Maybe He's seeing things that I feel I'm seeing as well with Tupori. And that's why he's comfortable with the match. I feel like I'm comfortable with every match up just because I believe in myself. And I always see holes and always feel like I can make the most of them. Even with Islam, the first fight going in, I knew it was going to be really tough. I looked at all the things that could happen. And you know what I mean? Obviously, there's so much that could go wrong, but I'm all right. I know there's certain things that can go right, and that's all that matters to me. Same as with I was in the second fight. Plenty could have went wrong. I wasn't even training. I was 83 kilos. I haven't been that heavy since I was playing football. You know what I mean? I've never drank that much. It was the worst timing ever, but I still told myself I could put one on his chin. And I'm this guy, I truly believe it.

I truly believe I went out there thinking that I'm going to do this. I can do this. And obviously, I was like, why don't you let your hands go? Even when I grabbed him, he shot and I got him, pulled him up, I grabbed him. I He's done a couple of good knees, but I felt, Oh, man, I feel strong. I feel like maybe I could wrestle him. So I held him a bit, and then I was like, You ain't got the gas tanker. You ain't going to go five rounds trying to outrestle his love. Get off the fence and try and put one of his fins. You've got to let the hands go. This is the conversation I'm having in my head. Yeah, no, I know.

It's crazy.

It's enough. Come on, come on.

I was going to say it's crazy because you have internal conversations with yourself as you fight, and it's almost like an out-of-body experience. You know what I mean? Many times I've been in there thinking, Why aren't I doing this? Why aren't I doing that? I trained for five weeks to take this guy down on work, eight weeks, two months, whatever. Why aren't I bloody shooting? You know what I mean? But that's the way it goes. Since your fight, two very honorable professionals Professional men. There's never any controversy with you and Islam. Since then, there's been a bit of madness, bit of drama going on in the world of mixed martial arts. We had that whole Ian Gary situation, Sean Strickland. Strickland is fighting this weekend. Ian Gary is the co-main event on yours. Drickers has been talking stuff about Sean's childhood and all the type. There's been some pretty nasty trash talk going on lately. What's your take on all of this, Volk?

For me, obviously, there's lines you can cross And people are going to sit there, 'Oh, it's a fight game, ' and all this. I'm like, 'It's a sport. ' How's bringing people's family and childhood problems? It's weird. See, with the Sean O'Malley, Sean O'Strickland situation, I was surprised at how angry he was because I know he's pretty vocal about it. He will actually sit there and say things like, I'm glad I got to meet up with you more kids. He will say stuff like that, but I think that maybe it's just more of a defense mechanism. He just says that. So I thought he'd be okay with it, but I didn't expect him to snap. So I remember seeing it. I was obviously next to him while this stuff was happening. Oh, shit.

You were?

Yeah. So So I could... And I was next to the fight as well, right next to him for the fight. So I remember seeing him and you could see something just switched. And I was like, as soon as they bring up that, and I was like, oh, okay, he didn't like that. And then it just changed because it went from being pretty friendly with Dukas to, I'm going to kill you. You know what I mean? And I was like, oh, well, all right. So then I was like, okay, maybe I thought he would be okay with it. So then I didn't think too much about it. I thought it would be something that because I know he jokes about it himself and puts- Yeah, sure.

He thought he would take it with a pinch of salt.

Yes. But I mean, that doesn't make it okay. And then now that you see that, obviously, all right, sometimes I can see why there's confusion. Obviously, Drick is, all right, that's really all right. Maybe I won't go there. But I thought, mate, you said it that many times. I thought it did. All right, now I've said it. I've seen it. All right, I won't go there because that is probably a little too touching now that I know that situation. So I don't think it will go there again. But then you got guys like Colby Coventon and things like that saying some of the stuff, which was obviously there for that as well, which you know what I mean? You just- Well, he wasn't even fighting him.

I wanted to say something for my son. Drikus and Strickland, they're fighting, at least. You know what I mean? I guess if you fight, you can settle inside the octagon. To be honest, that had nothing to What did it do with Colby. Well, not so. He was fighting Leon Ed, was what I'm saying. But the fact that he brought that up, it's not like it had nothing to do with anything. That was just a nasty blow. I guess he was trying to get him off his game, trying to get Leon to go forward and get the take down.

When are you crossing a line when you're saying stuff like this? And you could just sit there and be like, oh, I was just talking to a fighter. I was like, man, it doesn't... I don't know. Look, that's just not how I am. I think if you are going to go down that route and you want to push someone's buttons, expect them buttons to be pushed and pay the consequences. Don't sit there and cry about someone hitting you outside of the cage because that revved up. You tried to do that. You knew you'll cross on the line, but you did that to stir them up. How could you be so upset about it? If like in a coffee, obviously call them the cops and stuff like that after saying stuff. That just doesn't make sense to me. You say you cross the line and then you feel like, you know what I mean? If you're going to go down that route, you better be happy to pay the consequences about it. So I thought that was... I was hoping Leon Edwards might put an absolute beating on him, put him out cold and landed a couple extra.

You know what I mean? That's how I was with that. But look, I definitely I feel like there's going too far. I get there is trash talk, but at the end of the day, when is this going to be a sport? I don't like how people try and act like this is. We're just absolute, I don't know, not human beings. And we're just crazy people. We're not. This is a sport. That's how I look at it. So martial arts has always been a little bit there. So I want to hold a little bit of that. I expect trash talk. I expect it to be a part of the game. Obviously, you were great at it. You know what I mean? You're not going to go... That's what I mean. When you cross some lines, I just think it's just too much.

Yeah, well, from short- Did you ever feel like you crossed the line? Mate, I don't feel like it crossed the line. I feel like when I see some stuff, I cringe inside because I was a bit brutish, a bit of a thuggish, you know what I mean? Talking and effing and jeffing every two seconds and all the rest of it. I don't think I ever crossed the line because I never said anything too nasty. Basically, I just said, I'm going to smash your head in this and And then sometimes my choice of language was a little bit too colorful. Maybe showing up to that George St. Pierre press conference, a bit hungover and whatnot. Do you know what I mean? So sometimes I look back and I'm like, off for fuck's sake, why did I do that? Why did I act like that? But to be honest, there was never an act from me. There was always just, I'm going to fight this guy. And rightly or wrongly, I was always off the mindset, right, you're my enemy now until this is done. Maybe that was a little emotionally immature, but that's just how it was.

And I see some people, they're trying to do it for clicks. They're trying to generate a pay-per-view, and it comes off a little bit cheesy. But going back to Strickland, he says, If Dreykers brings that up one more time, he's going to stab him this weekend. Did you see that?

Yeah, I did. How's it? I talked about, so I ended up putting up a video on my YouTube about their fight, straight after the fight. And me and Craig Jones were talk because me, Craig Jones was right next to him. Mate, there's a couple of- If only you got, if only you filmed that on your phone, that would have been perfect content. Millions of views. I mean, all of it was great because you even had... Sean, obviously, while Tony Ferguson was fighting and Padi, he was pulling guard on Padi Pimler, you got David Goggins in the corner. Mate, all the stuff that was happening through that. We were just like, man, this is hilarious. So he's even gone, a jiu-jitsu doesn't work. Talking to Craig Jones, putting him on live, going, a jiu-jitsu doesn't work. And I'm laughing because what he was saying is, obviously, and I actually agreed with him, there's a time and place for jiu-jitsu, pulling guard and staying on your back and getting your head punched in for three rounds. It's just, you know what I mean? There's got to be a time where you're like, I got to get up, plain and simple.

Pulling guard is not the optioning. So I get where he was going with it. So I'm cracking up like, well, things like that's happening. But then they end up fighting. So we knew this was going to happen. So I had a smile on my face like, oh, here we go. It's going to happen. And he's like, because I heard them say something like, this is it. And he's like, can you please move? And goes in. They start going. And then And Drikus ends up having him. And then me and Craig were right there. And Craig says to me, I swear he was trying to bite Drikus because I've seen him bite me. And I'm like, you know what I think maybe I might have seen that. So I'll put that on my video. We both put on our videos. And then Sean's actually come out and confirmed that he was buying him. I was like, we knew it. We got that. If only, like you said, we would have had the perfect view with our camera. If only we got that.

You know what I really like, though? Because Drikus came out this week and said he doesn't blame him. He said, To be honest, he's another man. I was calling him on. I was talking a bit of shit. He said, I would have done exactly the same thing. So I really respect that about Drikus. What do you think in that fight, mate? Who do you think is the middleweight champion when it's all said and done?

I think it's a close fight. It's going to be a tough fight. They both bring different things. They've both got skills. They're both different. They've both got certain styles that are tricky, that can be awkward to fight. Obviously, Drikus being the way he's got a weird pressure, offbeat pressure, where you flick things at different long ranges that you think nothing's there. Next minute, he's adding on the punches. They're very, very hard to read And next minute, he's on you and he's just chasing you. Just certain things like that. He's strong. I think he's freakishly strong. But then you got Strickland, who's very defensive. So this is how I look at, obviously, striking. He spars a lot. He's very defensive, and he doesn't take unnecessary risks. That's why a lot of you think the way he is, obviously hearing him talk.

And the way he spars as well.

Yeah. You think that he's just going for the kill.

Or the way that he beats up members of the public.

So you think that's how he's going to fight, but he's very defensive. He's very safe where he won't overcommit to his opponents out of position. Then he will really... So he's He's really safe in that sense, which I think he might find that hard with Drikus because Drikus will... You play in this Felix Scholl weird defensive style. I can see Drikus making that awkward by just coming forward in this pressure and just long, weird punches and unorthodox strikes. So that's interesting. But then obviously the strength factor. But Sean Strickland, as I just mentioned with the Tony Ferguson, they're fighters. All he does is spar. So he just does What works for him? So he doesn't waste any time on his back, doesn't waste any time doing anything but getting up. So he was just going to try and turtle and get up. Obviously, people are like, oh, watch the back, but he's going to make sure they're not getting the hooks in. I feel like holding him down, I feel like he will get back to his feet. So that's something that I want to see, right? Drick is going to be strong. Is he going to be strong enough to actually hold Strickland down?

Where I feel like Strickland's takedown defense is actually quite good. I think it's underrated. I think people do say it's okay, but I think it's even better than that. I think it's really good. I think we will see it, it puts it in test. I'm interested to see. I don't know. I'm trying to be very calculated. You're being very political.

You're sitting on the fence. You don't want to piss anyone off. You don't want to offend them. I like it, mate. I like it. I do the same thing. That's me, bro. Never an opinion. I'm always sitting on the fence. I know you've got to run. So I've only got a couple more things I want to ask you about, and I appreciate your time, because I know you're in training camp. You're a busy man. You got the family all the rest of it. As a guy that is a long-time champion, you've defended the belt many times, right? What do you make of this whole John Jones, Steepay, Tom Aspinal? Tom is the interim champion, but Jones is fighting Steepay. I mean, that was already booked before Tom became the interim champion. But Tom is a mate of mine, and he's very frustrated with it all. But what do you make of that whole situation?

Man, it's such a weird situation. I I know a lot of people are going to be like, oh, yeah, but you know, Craig Jones, they've done some great things, and I get that. But at the same time, when a fighter, he's a fighter bigger than the sport itself, where we're just going to... I feel like I know that there's going to be times where we could push things and change things a bit. But making someone fight for the interim, why do we even bother doing that? Just to save a card, at least. And that's just weird. It's just I get why they do it, to save cards. But you know what I mean? It's a really weird one. It just doesn't make sense. I mean, what's the point of the interim if you're just going to make him wait so long? Or what? Is he going to defend his interim and let Craig defend that and then afterwards, let them fight. Look, it's weird. I think it's going to happen. I think that's just what's going to happen anyway.

It is. It is. Just keep changing.

That's what Dan said.

What would you do if you were Tom Aspenal, though, because I've spoken to him a lot, and I think he's changed his mind. But for a while, though, he was just going to sit out. He said, The only person that interests me is the winner of Steepay and Jones. And I said, Tom, mate, you're in your prime. I said, You're leaps and bounds above most of the other heavyweight division. Why not defend the belt? You're going to get paper viewpoints. You're going to stay busy. You're going to state your case even bigger and better. Because there's talks that both of those guys might even retire. I said, Defend the interim belt if the opportunity is there. And for a while there, I think he was planning on sitting sitting on the sidelines and just waiting. Now I think he changed his tune. But what would you do?

Yeah, everyone knows I don't like sitting on the sidelines. You know what I mean? Again, you can sit there and wait.

You've had two defenses already.

Yeah, I'll be making money, man. Making money at the end I mean, he's got kids, too, doesn't he? So obviously, he's in a good position, but you can put yourself even in a better position, man. And like you said, you hit the nail on the head. He is that good. He is so good, man. I believe he really is. When we talk about biggest threat, I know everyone says that every time John Jones fights, but there's no bigger threat than Tom Aspenal for John Jones. Tom Aspenal is a serious threat. He's dangerous. He's explosive. The way he can bridge for such a big fellow, he's powerful, he's fast, and then he's got the wrestling. The way he mixes it all up together, he's got it all. So I think just keep working on your skills. Things got to go terribly wrong for me to see him losing anyway. You know what I mean? And that's just how I look at it. I think he's that good. So if I was him, I'd get back in there, make some money, get better. You know what I mean? Just keep getting better and better and better, get more confident than me.

And believe it or not, he's probably confident and comfortable how he is now. It even gets more and more. You get more and more confident and comfortable the more times you get in there. And then you start backing yourself more, and then you start fighting even better. So that's how I am. And I believe me being active really did get me levels ahead and levels above. And I'm very thankful for it. Obviously, I was a good friend of friends and friends of friends and trainer partners with Israel, and seeing him do that. I want to do that. Started doing that, and I believe it was the best thing I could have ever done.

Yeah. All right. Last thing. You're a wizard in the kitchen. You've got the vault cooking series. As I'm getting old, I'm trying to do a bit of cooking. My wife went off to the supermarket before, and every night, it's always the same conversation. What are we doing for dinner tonight? Do you know what I mean? We get fucking bored. We go around and around in circles. It's always the same shit. She was like, We'll do fajitas. I'm like, I'm sick of fajitas. Anyway, I want to start a bit of cooking. I'm no chef. I'm no Gordon Ramsey. As a man that is skilled in the kitchen, what is a dish that you would recommend for an amateur like me to start off with? I'm good on the barbecue. On the barbecue, I'm the grill master, brother.

Are you okay? So here's one for you that I actually like, so what you could do because you like on the grills as well. Have you ever done the lamb rack?

She hates lamb. She won't have it in the house. She hates this. I love La. I love La. She's Australian as well, so shame on her. You know what I mean? But yeah, lamb is a no go.

I'm telling you, get one of my lamb recipes, I guarantee you. She'll change her mind, all right? I mean, So another good thing. If you are going to do whatever meat you're going to do, because steak is always good, whatever it is, everything's good. Maybe mix it up a little bit. But one good thing that I find is very good on the barbecue. It's very simple and easy to do. I make Shush kebabs. I use veggies for Shush kebabs. So I've done a couple And you just lightly season it with a bit of olive oil and like lemon pepper and stuff like that. And then you get like a toast, again, with olive oil, a bit of oregano and maybe a bit of garlic if you want, and put that on the barbecue as well. Everything on the barbecue. And you get nice char marks on it. And I'm telling you, the chars from the barbecue just makes the bread so much better, makes the vegetables so much better. And then obviously the steak on the barbecue, whatever you cook on the barbecue is going to be unreal. But that's one thing that I always do.

Whether you've got a nice little dip that you'd like to do or go look at something that you would want to do that you could put maybe on your chard, toast it. It's mate, I'm telling you, it's next level. It's so simple. So simple. Every time I do it, it was like, oh, how good is the bread? Everyone's bragging about a bread that I just flicked a bit of olive oil, an Oregada one. And then that's simple. Maybe a little bit of salt for a bit of flavor. It's so simple, but it gets people like a... Go nuts every single time.

Yeah. Favorite side with the steak, because that's the thing whenever I'm barbecuing, it's the size. It's always the same shit. I'm always trying to think of something more. Recommend the side, a new side. Blow my mind, Volk.

Okay, a new side for the steak.

Yeah, just something to go with the steak or the chicken or the shrimp, whatever it is.

Okay, so more You want more protein? You want more protein?

No, not aside. Aside, like a salad or beans or this or that. What is your go-to when you're barbecuing? Your go-to, accompaniment.

Well, that's what I was saying. Like a make... Do you know what a shish kebab is?

Yeah, of course I do. I do the shish kebabs on.

Some peppers, some onions, mushroom. A hundred %. That's it. Tomata's cherry. Tomata, a couple of things like that. Maybe some cheese on there if you want, a certain type of cheese. I'm telling you, just the bread. A bit of halloumi on there. There you go. And then you get that with the bread. I'm telling you, trust me, it's so simple. You got your carb, you got your protein, you got your vegetables. I'm going to do it on YouTube.

I'm going to put it on there. Come on, say again.

Done. Is it a bit of olive oil? A bit of like, oregano? If you got fresh oregano, sweet. Maybe you can rub a bit of garlic on there if you want, or maybe a little bit of salt, just for that little bit of flavor. And you eat it by yourself, mate, if you want. But then you can have a bit of steak on it, a bit of the vegetables on there, lightly seasoned. Oh, mate, it's the best. I'm starving. The char gets you every time.

Mate, we've taken up enough of your time. Last question, though, and you keep it super short. What is it? February 17th, Volkanovski, to Portia. You meet in the middle. What happens? How do you get the job done?

I know everyone always says this. I truly do believe that I can get the finish on this guy because he's going to bring it. He's going to come forward. He's going to want to put hands on me. Obviously, that leaves openings. And just where I'm at as well, how I'm training, I feel like I I can see the finish on the feet. I can see the finish on the grappling. I'm feeling stronger than ever. And you're really looking forward to putting one of these on as well. I really feel like I'm going to be landing one of these big bombs. So I'm looking forward to it. Again, he's got good hands, but I believe my hands are better. I think obviously I got the kicking game. I've got my kick box, I've got everything. So I feel like I'm getting the finish. I don't know. I don't know what I'm trying to think if it's going to be on the ground on the feet. I feel like I catch him on the feet, to be quite honest.

Well, we're looking forward to it as well, Volk. I've taken up far too much of your time. Enjoy the rest of your day. Have a great camp. I'll see you in Anaheim Hills. I live in Anaheim Hills. I'll see you in Anaheim for UFC 298. Let's go. Volk, thanks for your time, brother.

No worries. I appreciate it. Thank you. Looking forward to see you then.

I'll see you there, buddy. Take care.

Remember, chow that bread. Chow that make sourdough. When I say bread, sourdough. Get sourdough, sourdough, slice it up.

I'm going to chow the shit out of it.

That's it.

Voulk, take care, man. Have a good one.

Get that real nice and hot. Let's go. See you, buddy. Thank you.