Urijah Faber on Josh Hokit, Nate Diaz, UFC White House & Adin Ross Fight Offer

What's up guys, Mystic Zach here. Welcome back to episode 20 of Double Coverage. Today I am joined by UFC All-Famer, the California Kid, Mr. Uriah Faber. What's up brother? Thanks for having me. Thanks for hanging out. I'm letting me into your city my first time in Sacramento. Yeah, I mean this is, we're right on the busy street. There's probably some funky folks walking around but we'll take a look at the rest of Sacramento after this. Yeah, no there were some potential like World Star moments out there. I was checking out the scene before we got here but I think we'll have more fun tonight. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, we got a battle at the hive tonight. So this is the first ever combat program out of university and they're going to have a bunch of college kids fighting each other. It's right up your alley. It is. We have Mike Tyson on and he's really fighting to get the youth into boxing and we talked about how much you gain out of, I know because I was boxing as a kid. I mean in terms of respect, confidence, everything, getting into combat. What can getting MMA as a potential chance for college scholarship do for kids? I mean it's big, especially at the college level there's never been anything like this. Luckily President Luke Wood came in like hot with a passion for boxing, a passion for mixed martial arts. My gym as you guys will see later is like literally right across the street from the university you can walk on campus and he was like, you know, there's already a relationship here. I mean I've been traveling from all over the US all over the world to Sacramento to be a part of my gym and a couple of the students reached out to him and he was like, bro, let's make a thing a thing and we instantly kind of clicked and threw this thing into fruition and it's been two years now. We got guys and girls that are traveling from all over the world getting assistance with visas and getting help with school and like a real path to mixed martial arts. So it's been big man. I mean it's been literally something that is hopefully going to change the game period. You, Shaq, Mike Bibby? Yeah, Saq State's no joke man. We're just like, you know, making headlines and, you know, getting some big names involved and it's the first time for Saq State. We need a little clout in the Saq area. It's like we're getting a love, you know, and that's changing something for that. No, me too. It's always been like a hotspot for MMA, especially with you and what you do, Team Alpha Male and the Diaz brothers and Saqton 209. Yeah, I just talked to Nate this morning. He was going to try to come join us, but he said he's jam-packed until the fight. It's a big fight. Yeah, it's a huge fight. I mean, Netflix getting the mixed martial arts, teaming up with MVP and Jake Paul. What do you think of that? Do you think they have a real shot at making an imprint in MMA? I mean, first off, absolutely, without getting into the details of why, just the answer is yes to anybody that believes in themselves and they're doing the right recipe. They've got experts involved. They're taking talent that's super established and exciting. The fights are going to be great. You've got, you know, the rousy Gina Carano fight and you've got, you know, Nate representing. He looks huge by the way. That's why I told him. He got his old man strength. He's literally like filled out. He used to be super skinny. I mean, I've been sharing with that guy for years, but these guys are, you know, they understand about getting attention. Promotion is all about getting attention, making sure that people are, you know, putting their eyes on it, willing to tune in and they're going to, you know, start in the right direction with some big money, some big players. And that's really what needs to happen is a little competition. Yeah. I mean, you got Nate Diaz versus Mike Perry, which is the people's main event. Yeah. I mean, you don't do better than that from entertainment, violence. You talk about BMF. Those are two BMFs. Yeah. Co main event, the lineal heavyweight champ and God knew. I mean, that's, he might, he's a potential. Someone whenever he gets in there. Yeah. He's a dangerous dude. And then main event, rousy, making a return. One of the biggest stars in the history of the sport. You got an action star and Gina Carano. People have been wanting to see you back in there. Yeah. They did their thing. Gina. I mean, for those that don't know about Gina, she was a real pioneer in the female sport. Her and I were actually in a documentary on MSNBC that kicked off both of our careers, like way back, like maybe 2006 or so, called Warrior Nation. And, you know, her dad was like an NFL quarterback. They own the Carano wineries and they have casinos out in Reno. Like she's got a very unique background to be an attractive female that decided to take this path for, for a career. So that history alongside rousing what she brings to the table. I mean, I'm excited for that fight, but like you said, the people's fight is, you know, the bad boys and they're going to be yelling at each other. Off. Hopefully see some big knock downs and, and a fight that's all over the place. I'm pumped for that. Yeah. Of Perry's favorite. Is he? Yeah, he is. He's getting love. You know, Perry's like, he's like, if you find your purpose in life, him and gritty, like tough situations are like, is like his calling. He's, you know, even the fact he took out Luke Rockhold and bare knuckle, he became like a bare knuckle guy. Um, I wouldn't have thought that somebody could be made for that sport specifically. Uh, cause he was a pretty good MMA fighter and he's pretty good at everything else, but that like speaks his, you know, speaks to his soul, the bare knuckle, you know, teeth getting knocked out and this and that. But Diaz is, he's very, very well rounded, very savvy. He's unassuming because the way he fights is like, it's like a, a energy zapping style. It's like in your face. It's going to be like touch, it's volume. It's, uh, never compounding energy. So he's never going to get like jump into a big shot. He's going to always roll with the punches. So I think, I think Nate's going to be the favorite. Yeah. And my, I mean, this is the guy who sparred with Andre Ward and is a legit Gracie black belt. Yeah. And I mean, and he, and he loves the fight. Yeah. I mean, Perry has that in his, in his, in his back pocket that he actually loves to get punched into punch people. Like not everyone's, I wasn't that guy. I was like, I'm going to hit you. You're not going to hit me. Yeah. You know, and, uh, and he, he'll like bite down and get after it. Nate's the same way. So, um, you know, these guys both love the fight and they're both going to bring a different element of competition here because they're both kind of like, you know, make it personal in the moment. Um, so I'm excited for that fight. But I think Nate, I think Nate'll get this one for sure. Me too. And Trace Nate was like, Sid, the UFC offered him the McGregor trilogy and he chose this. Yeah. Well, that's because of the money. Yeah. And that's what you have to do to compete. Like, uh, I had, I wish Nate was here today with us because we've had some hilarious conversations throughout the years, but my favorite conversation I ever had with Nate was about, um, his comprehension of finances, which was zip zero him and his brother, like growing up. He's like, we live with our mom. We never paid for anything. We just, we're just kids, you know, and, uh, he said he went on the ultimate fighter show and he won like 15,000 bucks and he, uh, we're sitting, we're sitting at the airport, like we just happened to be there together. And so we're in the lounge just chilling, like be essence. And he says, uh, he goes, yeah, I'm looking at Dana and Dana's like, you know, hey, congratulations, check for 15,000 bucks. And Nate's like, I'm rich. You know, he thinks he's rich. He has no idea what $15,000 is. So he's like, I'm going to get my mom a house. I'm going to get my, I'm getting a car. I'm getting my mom a house. Yeah. And listen to that. And he, and he says his buddy on a car dealership and, uh, he like shows up to the dealership and he's like looking around and, and, uh, his, his friends like, what are you looking at? He's like, I want that. And he points to like a badass car. And he's like, well, how much, how much you working with? He's like, I got 15,000 bucks. And the guy was like, um, let me show you over here. And he like quickly got like a, a reality check on like what the. Going on. Then he said, he said, he said, I went to my brother and I said, man, we're dumb. We, that's what he said to his bro. But these guys have leveled up their life skills. They've leveled up, you know, what money means to them. Uh, what's a lot? What's a little just, you know, through the school of hard knocks and being in the business. So they're going to take the bigger payday. And for those guys, the doors always open, you know, it's because they're real, you know, when he fought Jake, I was like team Jake and I was back there. And, uh, we have a friend, DeCut likes to like rattle the other team or whatever. And he was trying that with the Diaz camp. Yeah. Also I hear screaming and yelling. Like, what is that? Like it's DeCut with the Diaz brothers. Like I'm not going out there. I sat down and waited for him to come back. I'm good. I'm good. After they fought his, he's got some, he's on a rough crew. Yeah. They were like, I guess some of Jake's guys, his guys getting into it. Well, I have like this friend, he's like a car dealer. He's not trying to fight anyone. One of them, yeah, yeah. Bare-knuckle. I was like, I'm going to go up. He's like, ah, I started running. I was with Zab Judah. He comes up and he's like, Zab, my favorite fighter ever, man. I love you. You're super cool. There's levels to the game of, you know, you know, and those guys are not, like they described it well. Nick was like, like school didn't work out for him. He's like, like I was fighting all the time. And they're like, why don't you just, you know, not fight? He's like, well, and where we're from, you either fought or you're going to be the, you're going to get picked on every single day. And I kept saying, you know, he didn't want to fight, but it's like, you got to stand up for yourselves. And so they're, they're, they're good guys. Like, like Nate's a family man. He's, you know, their grandfather was the track coach at their, their high school, um, but they're in a rough place and they're not going to be, you know, no, definitely not. Don't accuse them of that. So, uh, it's, yeah, it's, it's, it's an interesting dynamic for sure. No, they're MMA royalty. So, I mean, getting to see him back is awesome. I saw Nick, um, he was like grappling with Tyson Fury in my, that was crazy. Yeah. He was grappling with Tyson Fury in the ring. That's why he was super nice to everyone. Super. What's up guys? Miss exact here, AKA your host, double coverage, AKA the biggest sports fan in the world. There's no company that lets you rep sports better than fat head. They've got you covered when it comes to the NFL, the NBA, the MLB, the NHL, college sports, they allow you to rep your favorite team, whether your bills, mafia, Raider nation or my favorite team, Cowboys nation. Growing up, I had a Desbra and fat head that sat above my wall. Every single day and fat head, I can personally say is one of my favorite companies out there. And if you're a true sports fan like me, you'll love their product. Go to fathead.com. Show us love. Tell the miss exact sent you please. Fathead.com. I support this product and I personally endorse their stuff because I love it. Did you say, did you say you, uh, you were with Zab Judah? Yeah, I was. Dude, I had the best experience with Zab Judah. Zab Judah, I think wrestled a little bit in his dad's one. His dad's a kickboxer. Yes. Right. And so well, back when I first started fighting, I did, I was like 2005 or so 2004. I was in Vegas for like a long stint and, um, I was actually with my buddy. He was dating a stripper and I went out there to stay with, uh, I was with Randy Couture and I brought my high school girlfriend at the time and we all shared a room with Randy and Randy had like nine people in his little double bed room in Mandalay Bay and, uh, Chuck Liddell fought Tito Ortiz. And so we started out with, with staying with Randy for the fight week, which was cool. And then my buddy wanted to stay with his girlfriend and her girlfriend and slowly our like living conditions got worse and worse and we're hanging out with this next thing you know, it's like five days in and I hadn't like seen the, the light of day in a couple of days. I'm like, what's going on? So we're going to 24 hour fitness in the middle of the night and Zab Judah and Floyd Mayweather like were there at the same time as us, like 10, probably like 10, 30, 11 at night and they have a one on one basketball game and we're like in the locker room was Zab. Zab was cool. Floyd's talking in third person. So it must have been a long time ago because he was saying, I get three million dollars every time I lace up, every time I lace them up and blah, blah, blah. And then they had their whole crews there and they had this one on one basketball game and I just happened to be there at like midnight at 24 hour fitness. No one knew who I was cause I was new in my career. And looking back, I'm like, man, that was like some force gum. That's crazy. So I grew up with Zab. He's from Brownsville, like Shannon. So my dad was super cool with him. One time my dad's really fast for a white guy. Yeah. Running or running, running. He's like a very good sprinter for a white guy. And, uh, sometimes you're going to say there's some fast white guys out there. Well, just, you know, I'm just, you know, you can't ever mess with me. My dad's like, all right, let me get a 10 yard head start. So they went and like in a little street, whatever they poems have blew by. I'm like, holy never seen someone run that fast. Yeah. That's why Zab's blazing. Um, but I love Zab. Yeah. We went to the Jake fight. Taylor loves that. And Floyd's always been super cool too. Yeah. He was cool. He was always cool to me. I ran and that's how he talks. Yeah. He's in third person. He's hyping himself up. Well, what was happening was that it was at the same time as the, uh, the national wrestling tournament. So there was like Floyd's pretty ripped, but he's not ripped like, uh, the world class wrestlers that are cutting weight, like professionally cutting weight. So we're in there with all these ripped dudes and he was like sizing everyone up and he was saying, I'm, I'm hooked up like a, like a wrestler too. Differences. I get $3 million when I strap them up. So he was like, you know, talking himself up, but also a little intimidated probably. And, uh, yeah, it was, it was, it was a big and hilarious, hilarious. Interaction that I'll never forget. And then I met him at another time and he was, you know, he, his, his uncles like to watch me fight cause I had the cornrows and whatnot. So he said something about that. But yeah, he's I saw Floyd in the heat tunnel like a few years ago. He was like, I'm the best ever. No one else with me. And it was like, we're just all chilling. I'm like, you're good. Yes, bro. We believe you. Yeah. 50 and all. Like we get it. Oh, he was going on and on. I was like, okay, all right. A B was there. I'm like, oh Jesus. It's a crazy crew. But, uh, that's funny. Both those guys, it's crazy. So you're going to go to the MVP fights? I'm going. Are you going? I haven't, I haven't got tickets yet. I haven't thought about it yet. When is it? It's just coming Saturday. It's May 16th. Oh no. It's soon. I'm marrying my brother. My brother's getting married. Oh, congrats. Yeah. Thanks. But, uh, I'm going tonight. You coming tonight too? I'm coming tonight. Yeah, we've got a maybel brings out next week. Yeah. Oh, I'd love to see Zab. Yeah. I'll face on after. Yeah. Be cool, man. I literally, he was such a humble dude. Back in the day and, um, was he an Olympic, was he an Olympic boxer too? I don't know if he, I don't know if he's a boxing Olympics. Six time world champion. Yeah. And he just talked about how he and Floyd were friends and they still fought. Yeah. And these boxers today, like Shakur and Kishan Day was like, oh, we're friends. We're never going to fight. He's like, oh, that's not real boxing, man. We were friends, but I thought I was the best. He thought he was the best and we got it on. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that's right. That's the way it should be. Yeah. Yeah. You've had some experiences like that, right? Yeah, a couple. I've fought a lot. I've fought quite a few of my friends, mostly. No, I've fought them as, as I've been friends. I, I've fought a guy, Scotty Jorgensen. It was a really good friend of mine, Eddie Weinlin. I fought, uh, you know, Brian Bowles and Charlie Valencia, uh, all really good friends of mine, buddies with Dom now, you know? Yeah. We always had kind of a, uh, yeah, a friend of me relationship. We had some weird interactions at times, but, uh, yeah, he's killing it. We're talking about rampage, killing, streaming Dom's killing it with podcast. Yeah. He's doing well. Yeah. I was his first guest, which was like, he kept howling to me and he was like, bro, it's just fitting. You're the first guest and we had a great podcast and it was, uh, you know, who else was there at the same time? Travis Barker was there at the same time and Travis and Dominant. And I, and Dominant, I have history from way back in the day because Travis sponsored me first and then I was going to do my own thing. And then, uh, they started sponsoring Dom and this was back at like, I don't know, it was my space or what the social media was at that time at me and Dom were talking back and forth and Travis chimed in and I'm like, this is so funny. Like 20 years later or whatnot, you know, doing the, uh, doing the podcast and we're all in the same room is, it was fun reliving that. What a trio. Yeah. Yeah. 18, 20 years later. Yeah. It was nuts. Yeah. We were talking about, before we started the history of MMA promotions and kind of the minutiae of that, talking about WEC. Now that was the premier organization for the lighter weight classes. Yeah. So the way it works and, um, for those that don't know the history of our sport, I think it wasn't till around 2005 or so where mixed martial arts was even legal in the state of California before then. And that's why Dana have such a great relationship. Donald was one of the first guys that was letting Dana have UFC shows in big venues and states where it was legal. Um, but there was a lot of places. States that, that weren't okay with mixed martial arts, there's a lot of politics and everything else. So Dana and Lorenzo bought the UFC, I think around 2000, maybe 2004 or so. They did the ultimate fighter around that time, 2005. Um, but before then it was pride in Japan and, um, you know, it was like three events a year for the UFC. And since then the UFC has like, you know, dominated the space. They got a billionaire family that are business savvy, that have a passion for mixed martial arts, a guy like Dana White, that's, that's, you know, all in on the sport and knows business is street savvy. But, um, there's been a lot of different organizations and the WC was one that UFC bought early on. So I, I was at a time where they didn't have my weight class in the UFC. Um, the lightest weight class was 170 pounds. So if I wanted to fight, I was fighting on Indian reservations, King of the cage, glad air challenge, TKO. I was doing one off fights, wherever I could, and just trying to like claim that I was the best lightweight fighter on the planet. One of the organizations I fought for was the WC and I fought for them at the Tachi Palace out on, uh, like Northern California. And that's the only place they have it. It was on, um, uh, it was on HDTV, which was, um, Mark Cuban station. So Cuban was early in on the MMA sport. And so the, the WC was bought by Zufa, the UFC, and that's anybody that saw me on TV with it, with the WC was under the UFC. So they had two opportunities to, to, uh, you know, employ fighters. They had two sets of sponsors for drinks, two sets of TV deals. Um, they employed, you know, all the lightweight fighters, 125s, 135s, 145s, 155s. And at first they had a couple of other weight classes like Chail Sonnen was originally the champion at the WC and they eventually took away all the common weight classes, um, and just had the WC as the light weights until they merged in 2011. So all the fights that happened on TV was the UFC running the WC as the lightweight division. Yeah. Like people, there's a short list of incredible fighters who never got to be UFC champions. Yeah. And your name's always like one of the first ones brought up. Chail as well. Yeah. And she'll talk about like when I beat Paulo Filo, I was the best on the planet. Yeah. It just wasn't the UFC championship, you know, and obviously, you know, Hendo got knocked out Fedor, I mean, it was a middleweight. So obviously Hendo is the best, man. Um, I love frigging Hendo. And an Olympic wrestler. Yeah. Olympic guy, Olympic wrestler, never wrestled. That never wrestled and just, just trying to knock the FU power, the Hendo bomb, like, Oh my God. Yeah. So the WC before, before we actually merged with the UFC officially was actually the UFC still. So, um, Demetrius Johnson's dominant crews, Jose Aldo, Benson Henderson, Anthony Pettis, Cal Waisseroni, um, you know, the list goes on of all the fighters that were the WC kind of royalty that, uh, that eventually came over. And I had four attempts at the UFC title. Um, but I didn't get into the UFC. They didn't merge until I was in my early thirties. Yeah. So in my early thirties is finally when I was able to get into the, to the, to the UFC name and they just first took the, the WC name off of Jose Aldo versus your eye favor as a pay per view. It was the first WC pay per view. And then the next fight was, um, Eddie, uh, was it, uh, I forget Eddie, Eddie, Eddie guy I fought for, for, for the first fight in the, in 135 pounds was in, um, the UFC in New Jersey and then Dominic and I fought for the first 135 pound title, which was a rematch. So I beat him, uh, at 145 pounds. He went down and won the 35 pound belt. And then we had the first title fight for the 135 pound division in the UFC, even though we'd already fought in the WC, even though you'd already fought for title in the WC. Yeah. So it's almost like, it's almost like a technicality at that point. Yeah. As a technicality, but it doesn't matter because people don't know what the talking about. And for me, I just can hang my hat on, you know, I'm a professional fighter that was the best in the world period. And, um, and I, and I'm proud of all the attempts that I took for, for years and years and years at being the very best. I was in the top, top two for 11 years, uh, of my division, which was awesome. You fought Peter Yon in your last fight. Yeah. 40. You're crazy. Yeah. So big. Yeah. He's the champ now for a reason. Like, yeah. It's funny when I met, when I met Peter Yon, um, I was cornering in, uh, in Singapore, I think, somewhere in, somewhere in China and we like walk past each other and he stopped me and he's like, Oh, he was like a fan and wanted to take a picture. He told me a story, how he was supposed to come train with us, but it didn't work out. And this and that, when I met him, I was still, I think I was 37 at the time. I still had that like, and I was already retired. I had that like, when you meet another like guy that, that you want to test, like I just wanted to test him. I could tell he wanted to test me. Like I'm like that still. Like when somebody comes to my gym, um, like I'm, I'm, I'm grappling him. I'm putting hands. We're going to, we're going to see like where he's at, even though I'm, I'm much older now. And when I first met him, I was like, I want to fight this guy. You know, it didn't happen until three years later, but like, it's just like an animal thing. I don't know. Like it just a alpha thing, I guess. And, uh, I wish I would have fought him when I was 26, because I was 40 and he was 26. I was doing pretty well, but I got too relaxed and caught me once and then he caught me twice. I mean, he's tough to fight. If you're 26, 40 is like, yeah. And I'd fought and I came out of retirement just prior to that. I fought, uh, Simone. Yeah. Ricky Simone. That was like coming out of retirement because I was just bored. Is that your favorite moment in your career? That wasn't my favorite moment, my career, because I didn't, it didn't mean as much to me. Um, I was purely doing that for fun. Like, when I retired, I did one real estate transaction that made more money for me than, than my whole career fighting. And so I was able just to fight because I wanted to fight and I just felt like, you know, like it was, it was something I just, I just was bored and I wanted to do it and I was excited to do it. And that's the same reason I retired. So it wasn't my greatest moment, but it was one of them. And I think most of my, my big moments were fights that were in California for sure, or in, uh, my hometown. And so I fought a lot of fights. I fought Jens Pulver. That was a great one. I fought, uh, uh, Huffill, Sun-Saw. I fought Jose Aldo. I fought Mike, Mike Brown, where I, where I broke my hands and dislocated my thumb. And, um, you know, I fought Michael McDonald and on Fox. That was a big one. Those are all in Sacramento. Um, you know, those are my, my, my most exciting fights. Uh, the Ricky Simone fight was another one in Sacramento. So that's up there. The pop was so loud. That was crazy. Like when the, when it hit California love, they went ballistic. Yeah. And when you finished him, it was like even louder. Yeah. Yeah. That was, that was crazy. I had a lot of great like fan moments. That's what I would say. Like as a retired athlete, those moments are the things that you kind of miss, you know, is like the actual moments where you're like, like you're a star at that time, you know, and like rock stars, they're doing that shit all the time. But for, for fighters, I did it at 46 fights and most of them were on a smaller, you know, smaller scale. I had, not most of them, the, the, the beginning of them were, were like at Indian casinos where like people could spill beer on you while you're fighting. Yeah. I've been to a few of those. Yeah. So, oh, those are, those are the greatest man. But, uh, yeah, those moments are pretty epic. Yeah. That was a good one. It's addicting, right? It is addicting. Yeah. It's addicting. There's a lot of things addicting about, about our sport. Um, and I still, I'm still in it. You know, I, you're still a crazy SOB because you're taking the toughest guys in R.A.M. Yeah. You're, you're going against a limbic gold medalist. You're getting guys way bigger and younger than you. Yeah. And then he, when, when Armin slammed you off the stage, I was pissed. You know, I'm, you know, be a fan of you. But man, I like Armies current, but I just like to stick up for the OGs. Yeah. And you were like, ah, it's part of it. Yeah. It's all good, man. You didn't care. We're tough guys. I, I, I honestly, you know, that, that was definitely foul play and it is what it is, but I didn't think anything other than like just boys being boys, you know, we were mad for you and rolling off the, we're rolling off the, the, the, the, the mat onto the cement like happened before. You know, it's like, you know, chose a tough life. You know, you wake up, sore the next day. He fixed my back. I wasn't joking. I, I, I posted a video and for these wrestling matches, first off, RAF, I don't know those that don't know RAF is real American freestyle. And, uh, it's the most successful attempt thus far to make conventional Olympic style wrestling mainstream. And they're doing an amazing job. My buddy Chad and, uh, Izzy Martinez and, and Lance Palmer, you know, the guys kind of pushing this thing, Chad Bronstein. Um, and so I'm game to grow the sport. I'm game to participate. I love a challenge. I mean, odds big time stacked against me. I'll be 47 next month and I'm going against Henry Sihudo, who's 10 years younger and the first ever Olympic champion and just retired, you know, fighting world championship level fights. Um, but it's for, it's frigging wrestling, man. I can wrestle six minutes in my sleep. I'm good at wrestling. I've gotten better at wrestling and, and it's for the sport and you're getting paid. So, uh, you know, I love what real American freestyle is all about. And I'm like, yeah, let's do it. You know, let's throw caution to win. Armands, two eight classes above me, the current number one contender, uh, 20 years younger than I am. And I'm all, yeah, let's roll. And honestly, the first take down, I, I'm not used to wearing shoes. So I slipped and put them up by eight. Otherwise it would have been a much better match, much closer match. We'll get you guy your age though. Yeah. I'm not, I'm young. Met that's right here, man. It's like you love every time. Yeah. Now we need, we need to get a, yeah. I told him sir. So I got, let's just get this. Yeah. Well, I told, I told Chad, I had originally, um, uh, an opponent that was 25 pounds lighter than Armand. Yeah. And so I had agreed to him and they announced that match. And then I get a call. I went to, I was doing some business stuff out in Georgia, like a, like a two day trip. And I'm at a layover and, uh, in Arizona and, um, I saw my phone starts getting blown up from Chad, Bronstein, and then Lance and, and they're like, Hey man, would you do, would you go against Armand? He needs an opponent. I was like, bro, he's two eight classes above me. Yeah. Yeah. But you, you can do it. And I'm like, this and that. And I was said, you know, then we started negotiating. And I'm like, all right, let's talk about it. You know, no, hang up, call back. This and that. And then, uh, then we, we decided, yeah, let's do it. Yeah. It was, yeah. No, I love RAF and what they do. And it's, you're right. It is the best attempt thus far. Yeah. Well, and, and for, for wrestling, um, there's no real, there's no real pathway to a career as a professional. Um, never has been. They've tried it a couple of times, failed miserably, even with real money behind it and real, like, you know, some, some real prowess when it comes to, comes to people that know how to promote, but this is different. It has a different feeling. It's a different time. They're doing the right mix of, of, you know, social media influencers, high level world-class wrestlers, which has its own, um, puts a spotlight on them. Yeah, it does. But it also, it's its own subculture. Like wrestling has a very, very strong cult like following, um, a lot of participants. And right now the wrestlers follow their favorite wrestler in the mixed martial arts, if they decide they want to go and be fighters, but not all wrestlers want to go that route of getting punched in the face and everything else. That's been the only option is like go coach, all the wrestling or be a fighter. That's it. Yeah. Yeah. And so now you've got Chad Bronstein's a great business guy and loves the sport of wrestling. Izzy Martinez, it don't know, it doesn't, the guys that don't know Izzy. Um, Izzy is like, uh, he's like larger than life character in the wrestling world. Uh, coached, you know, some of the best fighters on the planet, like John Jones and, and all the guys out in, uh, Chicago and, and New Mexico. And, um, and he's like, it doesn't take He's like a real colorful dude, a lot like Dana White, Chad Bronstein, a lot like, uh, the Fertitta brothers. So they're doing a right mix of taking the social media prowess, the established wrestling community, the UFC stars that have been built that have this wrestling background that love the sport and want to give back like me. And, uh, and then they're paying real money. I mean, and it's six minute matches. They're, they're doing these fan experiences. The guys that are, um, running the events ran the WWE type of stuff in the past. Like as far as production goes, they're doing like spotlights in the, in the, in the crowd for, for like fans to, to engage. And it's like a real, it's a real experience for, for these young wrestlers. And now they can go up there and be like, I can someday be on the big stage. Like that's what needs to happen. It's not even a year old. So I'm excited for real American freestyle. I promised my guy'd ask you about this. I don't know if you've seen Aiden Ross's brand risk promotions. They stream it on kick. They get like 500,000 viewers. So they're doing it at the apex May 23rd. Dana whites promoting it. Oh, is he? Yes. Dana's like in the mixed because the main event fighter is like his friend of me, this guy, Bob Mennery. I don't know. Oh boy. But they're all this. So I told Bob, he does the commentary. Yes. So I was with him yesterday. He's doing an MMA match against Johnny Manziel. Oh, wow. What are your thoughts on that? Bob, Bob's getting some training and he's, he's getting there. He's 37. And he said he's got a street fighter mentality. I talked to Bob not too long ago at, I think one of the slap events. Yeah. And he was like, came up and like, like we knew each other and we were talking. And then I, then I figured out I'd follow him and everything else. But who, who's he fighting? Johnny Manziel. Heisman Trophy winner. Heisman Trophy winner. Okay. I'm going with him. NFL quarterback. Yeah. Yeah. He's got the size and the athleticism. Yeah. Hey. Bob made it happen. He only lived once, man. So Bob's been talking about it. Dana bet 10,000. You won't show up. I think it'll show up. I think it'll show up. But there's a big size difference there. There's a big size difference. They're doing an MMA fight. It's MMA. Yeah. My money's on that. Bob's is a wrestler. Is he wrestled? He said he wrestled in high school at 106 pounds. We'll have to look deeper into what that means exactly if he's, if he's a legit wrestler. I don't know either. So I don't know either. I love Bob. I was with him at training. I was like, I'm with the Raya. I'm going to get his thoughts. Yeah. So Aiden just hit me up like, like a couple of days ago. And then he's like, I said, Hey, didn't we meet in like the middle of the night at the same hotel in the lobby or no, in the hotel room in the Red Rock. And he was just walking like stumbling with a stack of cash and exchange numbers. I thought, and he's like, Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's right. And then I don't think they're paying enough for me. That kind of that's I would do it if it was like real money, but for me, it's not real money. To fight or commentate? Oh, to fight. Okay. I thought they wanted you to commentate it. Oh, no, he wanted me to fight. Oh, wow. He wanted to fight Anderson Silva's son or something like that. Oh, Gabe Silva. Yeah. Gabe Silva. Yeah. An MMA or boxing? I don't even know. We didn't get that far. I said, what kind of money you guys talking about? And then it died there. Yeah. No, I get it. Yeah. I thought I thought you were going to say like commentary or something. Oh, I didn't know if he wanted me to commentate. And then he hooked me up with with somebody else who, who hit, who, who talked to me about like, you know, who would be a good match. I said, bro, I'm not boxing anybody unless it's real money. Yeah, of course. You know, wrestling is different. I've wrestling, I've been wrestling for 31 years and I'm, you know, it's, it's two minute rounds of 30 minutes. You know, it's different, but I'm not going to, I mean, I'll box, but for real money. Yeah, of course. So that, that is, did Aiden tell you to ask me that? No, no, I just told Bob I was going to be with you and I just wanted to, I wanted to get the clip. No, I haven't spoken to Aiden. I don't, I'm cool with neon stuff. We did those streams. Maybe we can do a stream with you. Yeah. You know, hit the gym, grapple with the robot. Yeah. Yeah. We'll get you on the robot. Yeah. The robot might kick Neon's ass. Yeah. I submit him. Yeah. He'll probably hurt himself. He looks like he's, he might have a rare ability to hurt himself doing anything. Yeah. He has a knack for it. He's got a couple of diseases, afflictions that affect him. I don't want to deep dive into that. There's going to be more of the more famous he gets. They're going to keep creating. The robot might submit them in the first. We'll play some B-roll of the robot. You were showing me. Yeah. Oh, yeah. It's legit. I've never seen him like that. So that's. Yeah. My partner, Sam, who will be there. He's a crazy genius. We had, we had another business together years ago called Optical Pianosia. We're doing these really cool, like art, art, photography pictures with like Chale and Anderson and Vanderlei and BJ and, you know, all sorts of high level world champions. And then he's just a creative dude, got into Jitsu, gets obsessed with stuff. And then he's been building this thing for like seven, eight years. And it's, it's next level. It's been, it's been taken off and, you know, we're just about to launch the kids version, which is great. We're getting the one of the kids version. Yeah. That might be more speed. Yeah. That's a tough fight. Yeah. Yeah. That's right. That's a pick them. Yeah. He could go either way. But, um, no, yeah, that it's, it's, it's pretty sweet. And then, uh, I was going to ask you, man, what do you think? Cause I'm not on the cutting edge of what is happening. It seems like there's always this, this Twitch stuff. It's like, you know, it went from like Facebook to MySpace to what is the vine to Twitter to, you know, it's just, it's constantly going. What do you think is the next phase of things? You know, who's going to be making the most money in what, what realm is it? Still going to be Instagram, YouTube, what's, what's happened in that whole world, the content creation world? We've moved from the short form stuff to now the long form. Okay. Like I think it's kind of doing a reverse. Like people's attention spans are so short. So if you can get someone to really tune into you, 30 plus minutes, I think you're, that's what brands want. Yeah. You know, that's the long form winning content. So I would say stuff like this is going to be what gets you out. Facebook is. YouTube is king. Yeah. Facebook is starting to do reels and stuff too. Now Facebook is growing and they've got like, they've got some smart people behind it and they might end up doing a creator programmed incentive. I see people to post more. You can make a lot of money on Snapchat. Really? Yeah. A lot of money out of bread. I was forced to get off Snapchat a long time ago, right? When I was having kids. Oh yeah. Just like get off of there. I was like, all right, not going to happen to anyone. Yeah. I'm off. The streamers. Say no more. There's different strategies. Some guys just want to be seen as much as possible. So they pay people to clip their stuff. Yeah. So they pay them a certain amount for the views that they get clipping their face. Huh. How does Twitch work? So that's where you get the content from. So people watch you doing stuff live. Like let's say we're streaming this and then I would pay people to take clips of this and post them on Tik Tok or X or Instagram or YouTube. Huh. It's a crazy the world. I mean, AI is changing everything. Social media is changing everything. Smartphones. Before we go, we got to talk about UFC White House. This is the talk of the town. I just had a buddy call me. He's never watched a fight. He's like, are you taking me to the White House card? Like not how that works. Yeah. But this is the stat card. We just saw the press conference. Josh Hokey, Alex Pereira, Elliot Taporia. They're they're barbing back and forth. Sean O'Malley too, right? Sean O'Malley, who's like one of the biggest stars in the sport. He's just chilling. He's like the calm one. Yeah, that's this bunch. This is crazy. Justin Gaichi is like a chiller compared to these guys. Yeah, yeah. Um, off the chain, though, in front of the, I mean, could you ever imagine something like this happening in the sport when you were first starting out? It's pretty crazy how tied in mixed martial arts is to world, which makes sense. Like you go over to Russia. It's like everything's a gang. Like there's the boxers that wrestlers are in. You know what I mean? It's like your crew, you know? Um, so that's kind of been like that in other countries and whatnot. But now mixed martial arts is like a prominent piece of like the, the, the, you know, landscape, which is crazy and really cool. And it, and it puts things in perspective, like how close everything is. But, um, yeah, I would never have thought that it'd be at this state right now. And I'm pumped for it. And I think that, uh, congrats to Dana and the crew for putting this together and, and Trump's crazy. He'll do anything. I mean, he's just like, does whatever he wants. One of the boys. Yeah. He's like, he's like, yeah, fights outside at my work. Yeah. It's how fights at work. He's walking them out. Doing his thing. Oh my gosh, man. It's crazy, bro. I mean, it is wild. And yeah, I'm pumped for it, man. And anything to, to keep blowing this. I'm excited for all the guys on the card. Uh, big fan of, of everyone that's fighting and, and, um, yeah, it's, I'm not sure. I don't think I'm going. I don't think I have anyone on the card. I tend to like, if I'm, if I've got someone I'm, I'm cornering, I'm going to fight other than that, I want to chill. I've got two kids and they want to kick it. But, uh, I do have my guys, song, you don't and so much are you that are fighting him a cow at the end of this month of songs, the main event songs of Savage. Yeah. He's fighting, uh, uh, who's he fighting? Ed, uh, Davidson, Figurato, Figgy. So the main event. Yeah. So he may be over at the gym when we go over there, but, um, yeah, it's been fun. I've got my, my, my, uh, my event, the, uh, the, uh, a one combat fights. Yeah. So it's your promotion, right? That's my promotion. We actually, we're also running the, the sack state battle at the hive tonight. We're doing that. So, um, you know, we're holding a bunch of events where like the promotion in California, trying to find top talents and, you know, future stars of the UFC. We've, we've been, you know, feeding the guys run, you see fight bass. So I'm not spreading pretty fun. That's dope. Yeah. Can I ask you about this guy? We want him on the podcast, Josh Hoke it. Oh yeah. How's that UFC Miami? I just was watching the clips as you walked in. What do you think of this guy? Cause he's kind of an enigma. Dude, he's great. He's awesome. I mean, he was a high level. I think he wrestled at Fresno state. Yeah. Fresno state played in the NFL, played in the NFL personality over the moon. And, uh, and he's a dog. We saw that last fight dude can fight man. He's knocks, knocks him down, you know, gets back up. You know, he's, he's a, he's a real fighter. So, um, he's going to be a big star man. He's got like, you know, the WWE kind of aura about him. And, but then he can back it up. So I'm excited for him. I'm, I'm a fan for sure. Dude, he's like light, heavyweight size too. Yeah. He's not big at all. And he's going right at Curtis Blaze. He's in like, oh, yeah. He's, he's, he's a beast. Yeah. And he's, you know, he's not afraid to, to speak up. Not quite as, uh, outspoken as Strickland. I mean, who is? Yeah. Strickland's on his own level, but, uh, yeah, he's, he's going to be a star man. Yeah. They can, if they can get him to the belt, that's going to be a lot of money for, for, uh, the UFC and for that dude. They said, Hunter Campbell, this is my new favorite fighter. Yeah. Yeah. I believe that. Yeah. And they're about the same size too, I think. Yeah. They're about the same size. They can go at it. Yeah. Um, they, maybe an AI, um, they, they asked him if you wanted to fight Derek Lewis on the White House card, like while they were stretching him in. Yeah. Dude. Throw like, there's guys like that anymore. You know, there's a few. Arman's one of them too. Yeah. Yeah. It's like anyone in time, any place, I don't care. Yeah. Yeah. Pull up. That's it. Yeah. Yeah. Arman, what's up with Arman? He's, he's the backup. Oh, he's the backup on the card. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. But still, like it's, I mean, he's one of the best in the sport and he's been dominating for years and years and years. Yeah. You'd like to see him get a shot. I think he's doing the right thing. He's, he's been, I mean, he's been strategic, hired the right people, done his part, stayed relevant. He's got a nice little, little slick that's his thing, you know, just the king of wasting food and, uh, renting people's cars and stuff. Yeah. No, he's, he's very rich. We understand that. How did he feel grappling him? Was he? He's tough. I mean, he's strong. I'm, I'm a, you know, I'm not quite as agile as I used to be, but I'm strong as shit too. So I didn't feel like outpowered by the guy, but, um, you know, he's young and agile and he's been, you know, taking wrestling serious. Uh, he was, he was tough. Yeah. I felt good. And I think he, like I said, the first take down, I'm not used to wearing those shoes. I hate wearing shoes. I pretty much like to be barefoot at all times, but, um, so that I slipped on my first take down, which was anti-climatic and then he scored a bunch of points. And then I think, you know, at that point we had some, some moments that, uh, you know, that made it last a little longer, but, um, he's good, man. He's, he's, uh, exciting. He's smart, understands what he's doing. He's doing the right things. I think it'll be a champion. Yeah. Absolutely. And the USC now that he's gone and made a name for himself, the USC is on board. He did his part. Yeah. No, cause we knew he had the skills, but now he's out the name to back it up. Yeah. That's the California kid. You're right. Favorite. Thank you for watching double coverage.