Arman Tsarukyan OPENS UP: UFC Title Snub, Dana White Beef & Fighting for Armenia | PBD #786

The world knows you as a fighter, like you're an incredible fighter, entertaining fighter, feisty fighter, wrestling, all of it. But content creation, I don't know if anybody's creating better content than you today. You gotta take it and do it by yourself. If you fail, stand up and go try it again. You're the one fight nobody wants, right? You're the guy that everybody wants to delay. This sport is getting big because of drama, not because of fighting, like Conor Habib Diaz. What's the next big one for you? Abadi, don't say that Are you serious? They sent me a contract, I signed and I gave it back Take the fight against Ilya for zero You take it, don't pay me nothing It's okay, I'll fight for USA I'll fight for USA I look forward to the day we celebrate as the first Armenian UFC champion Yeah, so when I get the belt, I flew out here and put the belt on this table and we talk again 100% Armand Sarukyan, how are you? Great, thank you. How are you? Do we want to do this? Hairen on English? Angler in? On English? If I don't understand, I'm going to talk to you. That's what I want to do. So it's my first time when someone knows Armenian and English. So I'm going to be both the translator and the interviewer, which is going to be good. Yeah, I always have my friend. He's sitting and listening to the old podcast. If I don't ask that question, I always ask him. And now I say, bro, today you can't leave. You don't need the translation. Yeah, if I don't understand something, I'll let you know. I got to tell you, I messaged you, what was it, two months ago, three months ago. I said, brother, what are you doing with all this content? Of course, the world knows you as a fighter. Like, you're an incredible fighter, entertaining fighter, feisty fighter, wrestling, all of it. but content creation i don't know if anybody's creating better content than you today how did that happen it's it's come natural you know um i have a good lifestyle i can afford fly private jet yachts and i i love that lifestyle and people love it too so the nice cars when i post it like a food and um so i post maybe three years ago when i was eating in and out and it went viral i had maybe like 300 or 400 000 followers and it was like six seven millions and i said okay uh maybe people like because i fought or versus uh the milis ismogulov i beat him i got i gained like a 40 000 uh 40 000 likes for the for the winning right after the fight yeah but when i posted in and out i got 250 000 likes i said why i beat this guy like and i didn't go viral and i just paused the burgers and uh i went viral so and i decided like to do something more with my social media but like last half last six months we just crush it and like non-stop working and uh you know i don't push myself it's like calm natural and it's easy for me so people think i i have like a big team like we just create something crazy every day thinking about like a uh reels what are we gonna post is that it's like every every post almost every reels it's it's like almost my my um my lifestyle you know we don't we just create by all organic just kind of like hey why don't we do yeah we don't think even like arson hall he came to me and said bro what are we gonna do i said we're gonna train do something and they just we just create from there. Because if we're going to think and see, it's not going to be natural. So come, we wrestle, we box, we run, we eat, and then we feel something. You know, it's one of the ones I like. Rob, can you go back? I think it was a skiing one or a snowboarding one. Keep going the other way, Rob. Keep going lower, lower. You did a snowboarding clip. Yeah. It's got to come up. Keep going, keep going, keep going. it was it was hilarious the way you post i don't know which one it is if it's still going go down a little bit more rob yeah here right there click on that one look at this this is the one that i commented you look at this yeah thank you the last part when i that's the best part Paul. This is the thing. Getting the eyeballs and the attention. One and a half million likes. Rob, click on the views. Just click on the 1.5 million. If you click on the 1.5 to the right, it'll tell you. Look at this. It doesn't tell you. I don't know how many views it is. It's in the tens of millions. More than 20-something millions. So, by the way, is it at a point for you right now where, because are you starting to make money doing content or not yet? Are you getting millions of dollars sponsorship money or not yet? Right now, yes. You are now? Yeah, because last year I signed all my contracts, but in one month they're going to be done. And already, instead of $500,000, I'm going to make $3 million. three million a month in sponsorship no no like i'm approximately on one of the yeah i got like for example if i made like 500 000 a year from one brand now i'm like making three million four million yeah so so yeah because if you think about like the way jake paul did it or logan did or some of these guys did it you're on track to being one of these guys that's going to get you know 20 30 40 50 million 100 million followers like literally you yourself with the way you're creating content yeah but uh to gain followers is not easy you just gotta like uh for example give a car for the followers and like okay follow me i'm gonna give you a car and you're gonna gain like five million followers it's it's easy but i don't want to do that because i'm just who wants to follow not like that i'm gonna give them something if they like my content they they're gonna follow me so and uh uh before i will i was not thinking about law i gotta make money from the social media is that i was just having fun you know and uh it's uh not my biggest goal right now to make money so my biggest goal enjoy my life i enjoy my life i fight i wrestle i travel around the world yeah the worst thing i don't i don't spend too much time with my family mom i i got kids so but uh you know i'm 29 right now i'm telling them when i'm gonna be 36 37 i'm not gonna like train anymore and i'm gonna be with you all day so you're gonna get tired from me so enjoy your life for now until now years from now so now your story i've heard it from a lot of different people you know uh oh your story of you used to be a hockey player and then all of a sudden you got into fighting so maybe tell me a little bit about your upbringing yeah um i was born in georgia We moved to Russia for the good life, you know. And then I went to karate. I didn't like, I like karate, but it was too far. And then I started wrestling because it's close to my home. I was starting wrestling and I could wrestle so good when I was a kid. But like my coach always tell me, you got to cut weight because you got to be lighter. And I was hitting this sport because of cut weight. but nowadays if someone asks me as a kid kid shouldn't cut weight because it's the worst thing ever for the kid and i couldn't i could not eat like three four days as like eight years kid can imagine like what's at eight years old yeah so you started training very early yeah i started six i started training six and from six to nine or ten i was like beating everybody on the wrestling and when i was 10 i was playing for myself like from six or seven years i i was like professional already but like i used i i play hockey in my backyard with my friends because all my classmates were hockey player uh i'm from haberosk it's like a cold place place in russia it's like north north like the coldest place in russia and everybody not an armenian community no no no not a lot of Armenian, only Russian people. So they play all day hockey in the wintertime, and my friends were their hockey players. So I was playing with them, and then when I was 9 or 10, one of the coaches see how I'm playing in the backyard hockey, and they said, you got something special. Like, do you want to come and play with professionals? I said, how they start when they were 5, 6. You got to start earlier when you're in hockey. and I started 10 and even I couldn't pick it up until 17. So I was playing professional from 10 to 17 hockey. You were playing professional hockey from 10 to 17? Yeah, I wanted to go NHL. So my dad even was saying like, whatever you want, I'll send you Canada, USA, just if you want to play in NHL. So you got to go there. I said, I'd like to be here. But I was a kid. I didn't know what I should do. So if I was smart, I should tell to my dad to send me to U.S. or to Canada to play here. Were you that good that you think you could have made it in the NHL? I was good. I was good. And my goal was hockey. And then when I was 17, I understood, like, I cannot be a good hockey player. And I said, okay, it's done. I'm going to work with my dad. and I was working three months with my dad and said no this is not my thing I like to be in the sport because it's easier for me you wake up you know your time you train one or two times a day you chill all day you're like clean you know eat clean food but when you're in construction business you wake up at six you don't have a schedule you just drive everywhere like talk to people like help your dad you know they don't care about their body they just work all day and like it's a it's not the best job and i said no i will not go back to sport and i said my dad can i go to grappling school and he said yeah dude and uh i went to grappling and i could do so good because i trained when i was from six to nine wrestling and like i could pick it up so fast and grappling was just starting in russia so from 9 to 17 you didn't do any grappling or nothing nothing so only six to nine wrestle then nine to 17 hockey and then you come back to grappling in yeah so in one year i i was a russian champion so yeah it was like everybody was surprised how i made it and like and grappling for me was boring and i i see like someone is fighting and i said okay i got i asked my dad can I do one fight in MMA he said you're stupid they're gonna break your head why you need that I said just one fight I I like when they people go to to the cage you know with music and I watched once when I was like 17 and I said I want to do this once in my life would you watch what fight did you watch at seven uh it's a Dagestani guy he was walking he was walking uh to his to the case with the good good music you know i said it it make make me so excited and i said i want to do this in my life just because the walkout yeah walk out yeah i don't know why the walk out and people like crowd watch you and i don't know like i like it so much and i said my dad can i do once and he said just once and my mom was crying all day don't do that because someone's gonna break your head so you're gonna be stupid all your life now have you been a fighter like were you a fighter or mainly wrestling would you get into a lot of fistfights or no no no no i didn't have experience i i was like a grappler and then i wanted to transition to mma just for one fun for one fight so and uh thank god i won my first one and then they offered me right away the second one was the guy who has 11 or 10 fights professional and i didn't have a coach who said no don't do that i had like i have a like a strong heart you know i don't care who i i'm gonna fight i said if he wants to fight me i'll go because i'm i was young no experience nobody tell me you shouldn't do that you gotta box first i get experience and then you you can go to fight like this but i said okay i don't care like i just go and take and wrestle him and i went there in 15 or 20 seconds and he knocked me out. My dad said, what are you doing? I told you, don't go there. Is that your thing? And I was so mad, and I said, okay, give me one year, and can you send me to Thailand? So I flew to Thailand. I stayed there one year, and I came back, beat him, this guy. He knocked me out. What did you do in Thailand for one year? I was training. I was coming back for competition to Russia, and then back to Thailand. How intense was the training in Thailand? It was hard. It was hard, so hard. And I didn't know how to train. I was training all day. I felt like a professional fighter. They go to the gym in the morning and then come in the evening back. So I was in the gym all day. I didn't know, like, I got to go there, do one training, and then rest, and then evening. I went there from 9 to 11. It was jiu-jitsu. From 12 to 2, it was MMA. and then from 5 to 6 I was sparring and I was doing all that training every day only Sunday day off who told you about that place I was watching on YouTube I didn't know even where that place I just know it was in the island Phuket and I landed there I was asking everybody where is Tiger Muay Thai and nobody knew that and then And then one of the taxi drivers, he drove me there. It was like 30 minutes from the airport. Did you go by yourself or did you go with a group? No, alone, alone. I was there alone. By yourself? You're saying you're going to Thailand based on a video you saw on YouTube? Yeah, nobody, nobody. So you're training there and then you're now at the same time. Are you coming back and forth to Russia or no? Yeah, I was going back to Russia, beat somebody and then come back. And then in one year, exactly the same day, I beat the guy who knocked me out. I choked him out and then my dad said okay you beat him that's it but I was winning for one year five fights I was Russian champion MMA master of sport of MMA and like I asked the one guy I want to retire because my dad doesn't I was 19 and he said you shouldn't do that you have like a good potential like you can be in UFC and don't do that I said what is UFC what are you talking about i'm just fighting yeah and then i flew to korea i beat the guy in korea and then one of my managers said like keep doing because you're seven and one uh you can be like a good mma fire and you can you can be in uc so and then i was and then i once started beating everybody and i was like 13 13 win streak 13 win streak and they sent me to in ufc for two weeks before so at what point did dana know who you were do you have an idea when the ufc found that who this kid is armand that's beating everybody up uh yeah because the they signed me before it was the second second event in russia you see you've seen russia and they they were looking for someone from there so and they they got me there and they it was short notice before two weeks they They told me before fight, but still, you know, I said I got to take this chance because you never know what's going to be tomorrow. Maybe they're never going to call me again. And is this an Islam fight? Yeah, it's an Islam fight. I went there and, like, my manager said, it's Islam. I said, I don't care who is Islam and who is Habib. I don't care. Like, I need to want to be in UFC. I knew they give you contract not for one fight. They give you contract for four fights. So if you go there, perform very well. And I knew I could beat him. I don't know why. In my mind, I was so confident. Is that you or someone's telling you this? No, just me. The confidence is you. Yeah, just me. Where did the confidence come from? I think from my blood, I don't know, because where I was born, hard lifestyle, you know, my parents, they came from nothing, probably from that. that you got to take risk and do what you got to do, you know. Your dad seems like an interesting guy. Is he very tough? Is he a tough guy? He's tough. He can work 24-7 and never complain. And when I was growing up, I was watching what he's doing, you know, and, like, he never buys for himself nothing. He just thinks about us for our future. and for example if you ask him like i want to buy this car or this yeah he said buy it but for him he never gonna buy it for him like a car or simple guy yeah i mean when he was like 40 something i said like that why you you don't want to buy a car he said my time is left when i wanted to to have a cars when i was 25 23 24 at that moment moment i didn't have money but now i don't i don't need that but i want you to enjoy it because i didn't enjoy that time how many siblings i got the older brother and younger sister so that's your older brother yeah to your right what does he do does he work with dad or he works with that he works with that so rumor has it your dad's very wealthy no not very wealthy he's okay we we good lifestyle we we travel around the world we drive any cars we want but like we don't have like i don't know billions you're not billionaires no so broke like a half a billion like a few hundred million about yeah now did you always uh have a like i have a i have four kids but uh out of my two boys one of them armand he is such a simple life we can go anywhere he will wear flip-flops just relax you know he's happy my younger son dylan 12 he has a very expensive taste he always wants the best of everything were you always like that did you always want the best of everything yes me yes but my older brother same like my dad so he never he never go and like spend so much money or something he doesn't care what he's wearing he never goes to the like a Rolex store and buy for him watches that watches he's wearing it's mine I give to him and he's same as my dad but me I'm opposite my sister is opposite to my sister she likes like flashy things I like flashy things but my dad and my brother they don't care like what watch they have what clothes they wear they just they don't care but yeah but they're not it's kind of for me it's I'm not I'm not doing for anybody I do for myself. I like watch, I like clothes I wear. You enjoy it. Not like show up, you know. Yeah. What did you learn from mom? What did you learn from dad? From dad? I learned... You got to... From dad? Like... You got to work to get something. Not someone going to give you something. don't wait like to anybody to gift you or like to tell you you gotta do this you gotta take it and do it by yourself like how you think is good if you fail stand up and go try it again so that's why i don't i don't have too much patience if i want to do this i'll do it like my dad said you How about mom? My mom, my mom, my mom, she likes working out. She likes to take care of her body. Like I take from my, from my dad, like a hard work from my mom, athletic thing. So she doesn't eat like from when I was young, I never eat like sausages, never drink juices, juice. never drink in our house it's like water or like a homemade juice you know we don't so my mom she always like take care of us so good and like uh she works out every day and from her i took that really yeah was she an athlete before or no she just like it so when we go out when we go to vacation so my dad my my dad is sleeping my sister is sleeping by me my mother my mom my mom we all go out running or like walking and she likes to to work out very cool so so the work ethic from dad the athletic side from mom yep that's amazing and then you like to find her things like your like your uh younger sister the two of you guys together yeah yeah but she's lazy so she doesn't like to work out yeah she's just watching it right yeah so what can i say she's lazy she doesn't like work out she she likes like the older brother gonna give her everything and like she doesn't like even uh study so we cannot like um are you okay with that we tried to push it it didn't it didn't work what we can do so now we're looking for what she likes to do so we're trying to open for her like salon beauty salon and she likes beauty things so it's great yeah so we you cannot like push for example if i'm gonna have a boy i want him to be a fighter right i'm gonna see if he doesn't like that i'm not gonna push him he's never gonna be like he's not never gonna be a fighter yeah if he doesn't want to you can't force him to do it i try to force my oldest son to play baseball and he just hated it he's like no i'm not interested you're interested i'm gonna i'm gonna fight he's a fighter he does muay thai uh he couldn't stand doing jujitsu i put him in jujitsu and my dad, his grandpa's videotaping him because he's in a class down the street here. And one of the girls in the class, there was one girl. And this girl this one time is teaming up with him. And she's on top of him. And he's just laying like this. He says, look, I want to learn how to fight so people don't come close to me. I don't want people to come close to me. So he likes Muay Thai more. But going back to it, when you were talking about the fight with Islam that you had, you went the distance, if I'm not mistaken, right? Yeah, it was the... Three rounds. Three rounds. Three rounds you guys went the distance. Yeah. What did you learn from that fight afterwards? Because you only had two weeks. And this is the guy everybody's fearing. You face him. What clues did he leave with you? From that fight, I learned you shouldn't be so confident. You always got to think twice. you know don't don't be don't uh underestimate your your your fighter even like last week i was like last saturday i was uh wrestling was the old legend he's old but still like i was doing warm-up like i supposed to do i was preparing the same i was cutting the same weight because every everything can happen in the in the fight yeah after that fight yeah you you never gotta underestimate your fighter yeah and with the fabi if you're talking about faber right in the fight with faber this one clip went viral was the fight in philadelphia i don't know why i think it was in philadelphia what was it was in philadelphia right yeah yeah and and and there's a clip of you rob i don't know if you have it yeah where you know is this it yeah make this a little bit bigger rob so what happened to you were you was this intentional was it accidental accidental that's insane not intentional at all no i mean you gotta do a show right if like it was like a simple uh wrestling nobody gonna talk about that you gotta do something unusual did that hurt anything like when you fell adrenaline nothing no injuries no no no we know how to fail and him as well he's okay as well yeah he's good i'm gonna send him a gift you're gonna send him a gift yeah what's the gift we'll see how much are you have pay me does this actually pay well is it a good paying fight the wrestling yeah wrestling i get paid good like what's good i mean they don't want to tell me how much they pay me because the other fight other wrestlers gonna wants the same money. I got it. But you can buy a good Patek Philippe. You can buy a good Patek Philippe. Not like yours? But you have a nice one. Like this one, yeah, you can buy. But like this one, you gotta do like 6-7. 6-7. He knows watches. So from your experience with UFC, because UFC publicizes the biggest payday, right? What's the most money you made with UFC? With UFC? more than a half a million more than a half a million in a fight okay and the last person you fought um dan hooker dan hooker which was about a year ago right he's the one that you had butted in the in the free before waynes because i hate this guy and then he tried to flinch me and then i said sometimes i cannot control myself if some if the guy is good cool i'm cool too but if someone wants to like flinch you and like make you scared like i'm not going to step back straight forward to him yeah okay so this guy you don't like him from the beginning no i didn't like because we were talking trash about uh he was talking bad about me this that and like and then now i like him because i beat him yeah it's always like that once you beat him you're friends with him It's different when you're fighting. Yeah, but he has a bad mouth. Armand, what do you think normal people don't know about Armenians, that there are certain rules with Armenians you can't curse? You know what I'm saying? There are certain things with Armenians that if you say, for whatever reason, we tend to get more angry than other communities. Why do you think that is? because of the place where we grew up and the second one is the genetic testosterone that we have it's from there coming you think that's what it is yeah for sure yeah because if you go to Armenia I mean all the places Armenia, Georgia Dagestan, Chechnya it's like kind of same culture everybody has if you go there in the village the kids is fighting to each other and they grow up like this and then when they go to the city they have that mentality like you know that's why the best fighters they come from there if they're going to sign a lot of Dagestani, Chechen Georgian, Armenian fighters they're going to take over all UFC no but what I'm asking is I'm asking more about from the side of you know like in in americans they'll say hey mother you know they just talk and you just talk yeah but but but if you do that too even when connor was doing it to khabib khabib's like listening to everything he's saying says you don't talk about my father my religion nothing like that armenians have a side of that as well yeah where you can't you can't speak a certain way so how do you you're in the game of promoting guys are going to talk trash how do you process that do you do you mentally set it aside and say I can't take this thing personally how do you deal with it no I can do it so easy but sometimes for the show you gotta do something you gotta if you think like for example Habib he had already name big name and he shouldn't do anything if he's just listen him it's okay but for example right now I I gotta do something like crazy things that that gonna bring a lot of eyes and then when I fight or something, they already know who am I. That's why sometimes people think I'm too crazy, but it's like, I don't know. Sometimes I say, okay, I'm not going to do anything, but I cannot control myself so much. I need someone who is going to stop me. does it help to when the opponent is somebody you really want to destroy or does it work against you? You know what I'm saying? Like, does it help if you hate the guy you're facing against or it doesn't matter? It doesn't matter. When you're in the cage, you're calm. You don't care. So in the cage, it's a completely different game. It's just no talking, nothing. It's just like a fight. And if, for example, I hate Ben Hooker. I used to hate him. And when I was in the cage, I was so calm. Like, I was controlling myself because it's a fight. You cannot do it. If you're going to be not calm, you're going to lose. You're going to gas out. So that's why you've got to control yourself and, like, be calm. So it's important. Who did you fight that would talk to you? Are there fighters that would talk to you in the middle of the fight that would try to get to you or no Yeah sometimes but I don care what they say So in the cage it easy you know you can beat them Out of cage yeah it hard to control yourself because you cannot beat him right away That's why he can't talk a lot. But in the cage, he can talk whatever he wants. You can just smash him. Yeah, I remember when Khabib would fight, he was talking. He would talk a lot, and he would talk to Conor as well in the fight. There would be a certain level of conversation with them, but that's not your style. You're not the one. You're just focused on the fight versus your opponent. Yeah, mostly, yeah, but never know. You never know. You never know. You could surprise somebody. Yeah, for sure. Have you ever grappled or wrestled or done anything with Khabib or no? No. His teammates, yes, a lot. His teammates, yes, but not him directly. Not yet. I came a little bit later. so he's already retired and coaching his cousins but in the future for sure I'm going to fight his cousins or somebody because he has a good team Do you guys ever communicate? Have you guys ever communicated? We're cool, we're cool I'm cool with Habib, Islam with everybody With his whole camp? Yeah, because we live in the same region and we have the same culture and we don't pass the lane you get respect And right now you're training with Hamzat. How's the training with him? So hard. Hamzat, the guy, I thought I trained a lot. So I have the same problem like Hamzat. If nobody's going to control me, what I'm doing, I'm going to over-train always. And when you over-train, you cannot perform. So that's why you need a good coach. Hamzat's the same. he he works so hard and you gotta stop him so that's why he like three four five fights ago he couldn't make weight he pulled out got injured because he always over trained but now he has a good team and everybody control him no not over trained so it's important so it's interesting so over training works against you when it comes down to the fight yeah when you're young you can't overtrain because your body can like take it but right now when you're 30 31 32 you cannot do the same when you were 18 so that's why now you gotta take care of your body and uh train smart especially we cut a lot of weight too so he cuts maybe like 15 kg it's like about 30 pounds wow in in what timeline what time frame like one month in one month that's insane to go through that yeah and what do you notice when you've trained with a lot of different people i'm assuming over the years yeah what are some of the big names you've trained against not fought but trained with yeah but hamzat i think the biggest name biggest name yeah right now how does that help you training against somebody his size i mean when i watch his training what he's doing in the sparring so i was trying to take something from him you know because he has a good uh good wrestling good good striking it's always good to have a teammate like him and uh his uh his mindset he has a different mindset like not everybody he never watches his opponent fights he don't care what he's gonna do for example me i see and watch like okay hooker he does the like kick from the left to right he does this that like i'm gonna do this he's gonna kick me this okay let's train he's like do a lot of straight kicks and like do defense during the training but this guy he doesn't know like what even like a strickland does or like his opponent he never watched them and he doesn't care what he's gonna do he cares what he's gonna do to him so he has his own game plan just on what he's gonna do wow so that's why he's different that's why he's a champion different so he doesn't study his opponents at all at all yeah so me i'm opposite i'm like looking what he's doing this that switch stand when he throw like one two he's going this way or that way he is different yeah that i'm taking from the from him nowadays i don't think about my opponent so much i watch once and That's it. So I let my coaches think about that. Yeah, that's pretty wild to be thinking about. Because typically in every sport, it's like study your opponent. We watch tape. We watch this. We watch that. I think I watch more his opponent than him for sure. I watch what Strickland does that he's fighting next month. Why did he bring you in? Because if he's fighting Strickland, why train with you? Of course, you're one of the best in the world. and your weight class, you're feared by everybody. But why bring you in? We're good friends. And he has a fight in the U.S. and he asked me where I should train. So he came here one year ago and he liked to train with me, with my coaches, the place where I train. And he feels free here because he's a superstar in Russia, in UAE. Here in Newport, nobody bothers him. so he can focus on his thing and he likes the energy. He likes to be... How fun is he without, you know, with the camera off, with nobody being there? Is he as fun as he seems like he is or is he very serious? So you can see him once. He can be the funniest guy ever, but you can see him in one hour. He's going to be the scariest guy ever. so he he can change his mind about his mood so fast and i ask my guys like my friends they say they tell me you're same so you can be funny in the morning and then evening you come and like like why are you doing this like and like you're so like have a good you have bad bad mood so maybe because of their fighter fighters or i don't know like he's same he one day you cannot even talk to him because he say hi how are you good that's it so he doesn't talk one day he never stopped he can talk like three four hours it's funny that that's it that's a very common pattern uh with a lot of uh creative minds who wouldn't stop and were not happy with uh you know their level of contentment was so low they wanted to win at the highest level and they couldn't stop But athletes, typically the best ones have a bit of that mindset. You know, Brady, if you're around Brady, there's moments that he's got a fun side. But, you know, he can all of a sudden be a psycho. It's like, hey, why are you guys sitting around so happy? We're losing. Let's get our act together. It's a very, very common pattern with highest level winners. So for you, what is next for you? Because there's a lot of people that want to see you. You're not on the White House card. I thought you were going to be on the White House card. I thought the big fight would have been, you know, a lot of names with you being included in it. What's the next big one for you? I'm a backup for the White House. So, manuant in my weight. You are? Yeah. So, if something happened on the manuant, if someone pull out or... Is this public information? It's not public, but you still tell me if someone like... Oh, buddy, don't say that. Are you serious? Yeah, if someone pull out, but they got to get injured. That's awesome. Yeah. Well, I mean, there's a big one if a guy pulls out. Yeah, so that's why I'm flying out tomorrow back to Cali and training. Wait, if accidentally Gagey or Teporia pulls out your end. Yeah, 100%. Oh, my God. Yeah. Yeah, that's the goal. So we never know. It's a dangerous sport. But these guys, they train so – they don't train hard. So it's low chance. lower chance of them so meaning the chance of them getting injured is not high it's not high because Tapura is just hitting pads he doesn't do anything else Gage he's super old he's just maybe like playing he doesn't want to have a strong strong spine because it's not good for him right now well for me the challenge is I don't know if Dana would be good with Justin dropping out because it's a USA flag and it's 250 it's ok I'll fight for USA I'll fight for USA and for sure for sure they're going to be proud more than for Gage I'm going to show a better fight than Gage if you and Teporio I think the world wants to see that yeah everybody's waiting for that fight so but if it's not happening now eventually it's going to happen. And I take my time. I learn something new. I'm getting better every day. I'm not like, oh, why it doesn't happen? Like it didn't happen in January. Why they didn't put... I'm not mad. I'm just waiting for my chance. Did they call you at all for this fight or no? For this card? Were you at all? Yes. They called me for the... You see Chandler? Ruffy and Chandler? They wanted me put against the Chandler. and then they understood like it's bad for Chandler and he represents US. It's like 99.9 that I'm beating him. And then they put Rufy. So if someone gets hurt Rufy or Chandler, they might call me too. So either one of them, they might call you. Yeah. Yeah, but ideal fight for you. Yeah, title, yeah. You want the title fight. Yeah, I want the title fight. Yeah. So, and for you, in your mind, you told a story at the beginning. You said you went and fought your first guy. You lost. You went to Thailand. You trained for a year. Then you came back and you beat the other guy. And you, I think, submission, you said, right, that you did, to the guy. Is that story going to repeat itself with Islam when you go back and face him off? Is that kind of how you see that story taking place? Right now, no, because I'm thinking about that title fight in my weight, 155. He moved up, right? Yeah, he moved up 170. Yeah, but if he stays long in this game, yeah, I would like to go up and fight him. But right now my goal is to get the title fight in 155 probably. So there is probably in this summer and the end of this summer or they give me BMF title in June 11. Oh, dude, you're so qualified for a BMF type of a... Yeah, so either BMF July or title fight at the end of this summer or September, October. Teporia. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I mean, listen, I love Justin, of course. He's a fan favorite. He was at the UFC in Miami when we were here just last week. And when the audience sees him, he's got a big fan base, but he's at a different age, 37. Teporia is how old right now? Is he 30? Is he 29 or 30? 29. 29. So he's 29 and you're 29. Yeah. What a perfect matchup. I mean, if that's the main, if you guys end up, well, something needs to happen last minute for that to be the fight. But that'd be a big one. When you watch Taporia, what do you think about Taporia? Because I have Taporia here on the podcast. We had a very good conversation together. Different kind of a fighter. Yeah. Right? Different kind of a fighter. Good fighter, good mindset. Good boxer. So he used to be a wrestler and then he understood wrestling is a waste of energy. And then he started to box. He improved his boxing. Now he box people. Because it's hard to wrestle and box, you know, 25 minutes. Unless if you're Habib or Hamza. So they can wrestle 25 minutes nonstop. But nowadays he just do good things. it's a box he doesn't kick he doesn't wrestle so his main thing is a box for me it's easy because I have good kicks that I can stay on the kick distance and if he comes with a box I wrestle him or I clinch him so they know that too they're going to try to avoid they're going to try to move up after this fight he's going to say they cannot fight me because it's like it's like even his teammates they know it's a tough fight it's a tough fight why we should take the tough fight if we can fight with Olivera, Gage the guys who is like at the end of their career and they cannot do everything and they have a bad chin they drop so much so if they're going to hit them they're going to lose. That's the main thing. Probably he's going to get the title. He's going to defend the title and say I'm going to leave this title. He's going to leave this title. It's my opinion. On the camera, he's saying I don't care. I fight Armand. But when the time comes to fight Armand, he's always trying to find excuses. Well, you're the one fight nobody wants, right? You're the guy that everybody wants to delay. But he's also formidable. I actually think if the two of you guys fought, it would be one of the highest grossing viewership. I think it can be the matchups because I don't think either one of you guys are going to pour your fights. He's also good for the fans. Like he doesn't show up. There were certain fighters back in the days that they only fight for, you know, points, scoring. They play it safe. And when you fight, you're not going to play safe either. I think it would make for a hell of a fight for a lot of people. A lot of people probably want that fight. What has Tuporius said about you when your name comes up? Because I'm sure you watch everything he says about you in interviews. Last time he was on the stream, I don't know, he said knocking me out or something. I don't remember, to be honest. He said he would knock you out. I don't remember, to be honest, but he said easy. No, he said, I think, easy, I'll take this fight. Yeah, probably. No, no. He said, what he's going to do, he's going to wrestle me. I'm going to defend. What else? He cannot box. And I'm going to knock him out or something like that. Rob, is this to pour you on the podcast? Yes, sir. Okay. I don't remember what he said, but I do remember we talked about Armand. Go for it. Can you look at that, Rob? I'm curious now because Charles is number two. Oh, Armand is number two. Armand, number two. So would you fight an Armand before you go, like, let's just say Dana says I want you to fight Armand before you fight Islam. Would you entertain that? He wouldn't tell me that. He wouldn't tell you that? No. Dana would say Islam. He would say for the belt. He would say for the belt? Yeah. I think so as well because you're undefeated. Of course. Yeah. There's no way that I have to fight to the number one contender. I have to fight directly for the belt. How soon do you think that would happen? personally i don't know yeah that that moment he uh islam was the champion so that's why so i was number one and islam moved up moved up and uh yeah so and i'm supposed to fight him and you see decided to put the him versus uh olivera how much how much you talk when when it comes on to fighting armand do they call you and they just tell you here's who you're fighting or do they call you and say between these two who would you rather fight they tell you the fight or do you have a choice at times no they never tell me uh they don't they they never give me like two names only one here's your fight yeah and i'll take it and then no matter when they call you you're going to take the fight because i i turned down just one fight because i was number 10 or i was number one and they they gave me like number 10 or 11 the guy who was losing everybody yeah because Dana did say one time, he says, with Armand, he doesn't take all the fights. We want people to take the fights. I think he made a comment about that in the past. How's the relationship with Dana? I'm cool with him. Okay. Yeah, so I'm good with everybody in UFC. And I turned down the fight because they never gave me a fight when I was number 10 or number 11 with number one contender. Why I beat number nine? Why I beat number eight? Why you give this guy like a present to fight with number one contender and he's nobody and he loses to Oliver, he loses to Darius, he loses to Hooker and I beat everybody and you're going to give me this fight? And I said, I don't want to give me the better fighters from top five that I deserve it. Where were you ranked when he gave you number 10? I was number one. Oh, so that's when he got it. Yeah, that's right. That's one fight in my life. I turned out once in my life and I became the worst person ever. But you have to know that's Dana, though. If Dana calls, you've got to say yes. I think Dana, he doesn't know what's going on, what fights is offering me because he decided on the title fights. I don't think so he decided title fight. They just give him this card. He said yes or no, or maybe he can switch. Because the hunter and matchmakers, they do all this work. He doesn't do anything. He just run out like a business or like a sponsorship, like big deals. I think he's on a different level right now, and he doesn't know what's going on over there. You don't think he's – well, he did say he's no longer negotiating a contract. Yeah. He said moving forward, it's Hunter and other people that are doing it, no longer me. Yeah. I think he just said that recently. Yeah, I don't think so. He's like in like making fights because he has a matchmakers and Hunter. Probably they just give him the card and he say yes or no. I think. I don't know. Yeah. Because it takes so much time. Can I imagine how much time he has to make all these fights? Let me ask you a question. Are you also a fan of the fight? Are you a fan of UFC? Yes, I'm a fan of UFC. So you're a fighter, but you're also a fan. You watch it as well. Yes. Okay. If I have a time, I always fly to Vegas and watch. Yeah. So thank God UFC gave me a good ticket. I'm still on. Still alive. So let me ask you this. It's almost historically, all the best fighters in every weight class had a little bit of conflict with Dana. It's not the regular ones. It's always the best ones. They had a little bit of issue. It's almost like it's expected. And I'm talking as a fan. You're on the inside. I'm not on the inside. I'm just a fan that goes and supports what's going on. Do you see that as a common pattern? Like, you know, the faces of the fighting game typically have a little bit of conflict with the top of UFC. Yeah, because everybody wants to make more money. So they hear how much the NBA players, how much the football players are making, and UFC fighters want to make a lot of money too. And then they started to do that thing. John Jones, not just he wants big money. Tapuria for the White House, he wants Islam. He asks the big money. Everybody asking for big money. that's why probably they argue so you think it's the money part well let me ask you let's say I'm negotiating on behalf of Dana for the next two minutes I work for Dana for me they send me a contract I sign and give it back I don't even watch how much they if they were to say okay something happened to Justin I want you to be on the White House card but we're not paying you nothing would you take the fight so let me get this straight I mean, this is very important because we can save UFC some money right now. If they called you from UFC right now and they said, take the fight against Ilya for zero, you take it, don't pay me nothing. I got a watch in my contract to fight for the title. I don't know how much I'm getting paid. Because last time before the hooker fight, they gave me contract. I said, okay, I'll sign it because I want to be a normal guy in UFC because I don't have too much tools. They gave me contract, I signed. It was good money, and I just signed it. I didn't say, oh, add me like 200 more because I want to more money. I said, okay, I want to fight for the title. They give me Hooker, I beat him, and then I go to fight for the title. I beat Hooker, and then wrestling on the RAF. You headbutted, and that's what Dana didn't like. There's certain things he wants. Do you have a relationship with Conor? No. Have you guys ever met? Yeah, I fought on the same card as Conor. Conor with Dana is good. Habib is good. Not like all fighters, but a lot of fighters are good. Only maybe Jon Jones. Who else? And now Ronda. Meaning not good with UFC. Yeah. Conor was a little bit difficult at times. He gave him a little bit of a hard time with throwing that thing through the glass in the bus. But it's good for the UFC. You think they don't like it? They like it. So you're thinking about throwing something through that window. You're like, let me go grab the chair right now. Yeah, so the drama, the sport, why this sport is getting big? Because of drama, not because of fighting. Like Conor Habib Diaz. you know the trash talk everything not just fighting what's going on before the fight the boss thing it was like it went viral too it was uh it was everywhere yeah because of that that that fight was the most biggest fight in the in the in the ufc if it wasn't that conflict before that okay conor habib yeah they talk shit in the press conference that fight it's count. Yeah, I saw what you said once. I thought it was so funny. You said to Teporia, correct me if I'm wrong here, I think you said I'll buy your house if you fight me. Did you say something like that? I'll buy your three and a half million dollar house if you fight me. Yeah. So he was selling his house and he didn't have a fight. And I said, yeah, I'll buy his house and I mean, this is just trolling at its best. I'll buy your house if you agree to fight me next. Ilya Teporia has put this $3.5 million home for sale. And my dad called me, and I heard you're buying a house in Spain. I said, yeah. He said, when are we going to vacation? Your dad said that? Yeah, but who am I going to call when he's going to say yes? Yeah. Did he respond back to you or no? No, no. Go a little bit down on the comments section, Rob. Armand arriving in Madrid to buy Ilya's house. people are funny with you yeah um that's interesting so how how much of how much of match because right now some people would say the ufc they've had some good fights like i was at this last one no big names it was actually very good card like if you were at the fight it was phenomenal Probably the best heavyweight fight that took place that went the distance. You know, the last fight where, you know, he is, I don't know if he was ACL was torn. Yeah. You know, and he kept getting kicked. Kick. It's like, this is over with. And then all of a sudden, boom. And everybody was blown away by the fight the way it ended. But a big card, they haven't had that for a minute. Yeah, but it's hard. People expecting every title fight It's going to be drama And they didn't sell a lot of pay-per-view Or what's it called I don't know Pay-per-view? Yeah But for example All bigger stars are booked now Hamza big fight coming up Ilia Pereira on the White House And UFC doesn't have so much stars to put on every card. That's why, like, and the one fight pulled out, too, the common event for the title, one versus, I don't know who. That's why they didn't sell it, a lot of tickets. But you see, you never know. You see the names, they don't have big names, and you come and watch, and, like, the best fight ever, right? Like you said, the heavyweight fight. Mm-hmm. So that's why every event, they have something special. Matchmakers works good. You said you're a fan. So if you're a fan and everywhere you go, people are talking to you. They want to speak to you about UFC or different things. If you could make three fights happen and you're a matchmaker, who do you create? What fights would you want to see in the UFC? In the UFC? Mm-hmm. Jones versus Pereira. Jones-Pereira. Armand versus Gage. Oh, I remember Armand versus Ilya. Okay. And the next one, Hamza Chema versus Sean Strickland. Strickland. Those three fights. Yeah. Strickland has a fight there. Yeah. Versus Hamza. Yeah. And then Pereira, John Jones is a big fight. They wanted to do that fight on the White House, I guess. I think John asked for like 30 million or I don't know what the number was, 15 million, and they didn't want to do it. I read somewhere, maybe John asked for a bigger number and they said, no, we're not going to pay it. So it went to, went a different direction. Yeah, and you see a lot of fights you can do. You can do a lot of fights. Around 45, it's... Jones wanted over 15 million. Yeah, that's what it was. Jones wanted 15 million for the bout and it failed due to a reported gap of 5 million. Now, keep in mind, this is, you know, ESPN reporting. Yeah, but I think UFC could pay him 15 million. $50 million? $15 million. Yeah, easy. For White House, he deserved $15 million. And I think they could pay him. It's something like a different issue. It's my opinion. All right, what's your opinion? Percel. Percel. Okay, so no chance at all. No chance, yeah. You know, the Sultan with Vayi Tim and the PPD podcast started with a phone, me and Mario. That's it. And it grew today to, you know, 15 million subscribers almost and 164 full-time employees. and that relationship where you watching us and supporting us wouldn't happen without you. But did you know 51% of you that watch the content are not subscribed to the channel? And it would mean the world to us if you could press that subscribe button and notification. Why? It allows us to grow, hire more, do bigger interviews, have a bigger team, and deliver a better product to you. So if you haven't yet, if you don't mind, press that subscribe button. I think one of the biggest events ever, and you think they're not going to pay $15 million? For sure they paid. Yeah. They got a lot of money. They got a lot of money. I mean, if you... And he has not a lot of fights left, so maybe one, two fights, John Jones. And he's a legend. And, like, Conor, he made, like, $15, $20 million, right, for the fights. Can you pull up what are Conor's highest, you know... No, on the boxing he made a lot. On the boxing he made $100 million. In UFC, he made, I think, for his per-per-view, something like 30 mil, 20-something mil. So not the UFC, but on the including bonuses, 5 to 6 million bucks, UFC 100 million. Are you sure it's only 5 to 6 million bucks, the most he made? Can you ask the same question on ChatGBT, Rob? No, but you never know. Maybe they pay him extra. Conversations. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Extra bonuses. UFC always send me extra bonuses. Yeah. A couple days ago, they sent me $42,000, I don't know for what. Maybe for my social media. Are you serious? Yeah, yeah. Did they ever explain where it's coming from or no? I didn't ask. You just took the money. Maybe my manager is going to say, hey, where's my person? Yeah. I was not saying. So Eddie Alvarez, $6.8 million. Interesting. What did he get paid on Khabib? No way. It was a $3 million flat fight? was Habib? There is no way it was only $3 million. McGregor claimed it was worth around $50 million total with pay-per-view. Dustin, they got $5 million apiece. What is the highest paid a UFC fighter got paid? What is the highest? You're never going to know because they used to pay the not on the books. I heard they pay so much money when it was for Tidus. yeah I I is UFC a publicly traded company now where they have to report okay zoom in on that one a little bit where the very biggest payday total earnings but is that earnings to the fighter or is that earnings to UFC They say that that all three fights combined No, but I heard he makes around 20 million, the Conor. A fight. Yeah, from Habib's fight, he made like 20 or 30 million. 20 or 30 million? It's good money, no? Yeah, but if you look at the most, there's a, I think, four out of the five highest pay-per-view tickets ever sold. four out of the five Connors in those fights. If you go to the highest UFC pay-per-view tickets sold. Highest UFC pay-per-view tickets sold. I want to know top five fights. I think four out of five Connors in all of them. Zoom in. There you go. Actually, five out of five is Connors. Isn't that amazing? 2.4 million. Damn! 1.8 million Poirier 3 1.6 million Poirier 2 1.6 million Diaz 2 1.3 million Diaz 1 Can I imagine 2.4 on how much is the perfect 100 150 70 bucks I don't know what it is I want to say it's probably 70 to 100 bucks so it's 200 it's 200 yeah damn 80 bucks 80 bucks times 2.4 million that's a there's 200 million dollars right there yeah probably he makes around 30 mil on those fights uh habib maybe 10 15 and he makes probably about 30 mil how much you think it's fighting how much you think it's his personality and ability to promote uh fighting it's uh 80 percent 70 and 30 is for more you think that's what it is yeah so okay so you put 70 of it on a skill set 30 of it on the promoting yeah if you're if you're if you're bad you're not you're going to be in the title. Interesting. 70-30. That makes sense. Yeah, you've got to be a good fighter to fight for the title. Yeah, that's a very good point. Unless if you're not Paddy Pimlet. Paddy Pimlet, 10% fighting, 90% trash talk. So you think 10%? Paddy's a pretty good fighter. He's pretty... Did you watch his last fight? Yeah, that was not good. But the previous one... Versus who? Well, I've been to quite a few... Yeah, he beat like trash canes. They just give him so easy fights that even my dad can beat him. Yeah, really. He beat like a Tony Ferguson who has nine losing streak. He beat, what's the? Just put up his last fights, Rob. Go down a little bit, it'll show his fights. Michael Chandler. Michael Chandler. Michael Chandler, ten fights and you see nine loses. is that that's not approximately click on Chandler's record no King Green King Green check King Green go go on King Green check is last 15 or 10 fights in UFC okay last 10 fights go down 3-3 like 5 loses 5 wins yeah go to Chandler Chandler is like worse the thing with Chandler is he's one of the most exciting. Chandler's first round may be the most exciting round in the first round. If you can make it past the first round, but you're going to have a lot of pain. Last one, two, three, four, five. Last six fights, five losing. Armand, respectfully, he almost beat Charles. He almost beat Justin. I almost was a UFC champion. These were pretty good fights that he had. I'm telling you. And if you look at the two rounds, three rounds, two rounds, three rounds, five rounds with Charles. Yeah, he's... He's... Last six fights, five loses. That's crazy. He's a pretty fun guy to watch. He's a pretty fun guy to watch. Like a fan? Yeah, first round, it's good. His fight versus Gage or Poirier was good. I mean, for fans, it's good to watch, but like a fighter, it's hard. You don't think, what's today's what, Rob? April 20th. April 20th today. 420 today. Okay. So, and the White House card is when? June 16th, I think. June 16th, so two months until the White House card. Yeah. I'm sorry, June 14th. You think there's a 0% chance Dana's going to make an announcement with a new fight? If you call Trump and put Armand on the card and he's fighting for the U.S., and maybe they make it. That's the strategy. You've got to call Trump and say this guy is the biggest star right now in the Armenian community. Oh, my God. He wants to represent U.S. Let me ask you. Here's a question. Serious question. If, God forbid, something happens to Justin. By the way, when I was at the fight, Justin spoke to the president for 10 minutes. They were standing talking to Justin. So he's a fan. They have a relationship. And he's American. So, but if something happens, Justin's not going. They put you in. Can Ilya say no? No. He cannot say no. Okay. Because it's a White House. and if there are not going to be other names, who is going to be ready? They cannot put anybody. But you see there is two guys in the 155 division. There is a Chandler. But can I imagine if they're going to say to me no and put Chandler fight for the title? Oh, the audience would be so pissed off. That's going to be the worst. Oh, the audience would be so pissed off. They would not be happy. Or Rufi. I don't know. Well, let me ask you, deep down aside, don't you think he wants to see that fight, you against Tapurio? Now they want to see that. You don't think Dana wants to see that fight? Right now Dana wants to. Why are you saying right now? Because they can see what I'm doing on my social media, on my wrestling and everything. I'm just bringing a lot of numbers. And I post the April 1st picture, me versus Tapurio. That was the best. and they gain more likes and views than UFC page announced the whole card. Did you see that, Rob? Do you know what he's talking about? On April 1st, he posted that the fight is him against Ilya. Did you post it on Instagram or Twitter? Go on his Instagram and go to April 1st. Where is the card? I don't think you posted it. There it is, right there. One million likes. White House, Washington, D.C. This was posted on April 1st. Yeah. This just tells you people want to see this fight. They're going to see that. They're going to see this fight. It's going to be one of the biggest fights, and I'm so excited for that fight, too. I'm just working every day on that, and they think I'm doing this content, but I train less, but I was trying to get better. Just show people that I'm chilling. Yeah. Is that Nina? Yeah. So what's the story with you guys? Are you guys dating? No, Nina and me, we're the best friends. Nothing. There's nothing in between you guys. Nothing happened because we respect each other, you know. So we just create the content. There's chemistry there, though, bro. like that's you know like when people watch you guys there's a i just want to say one thing if you if you if you do with something like uh you're not gonna post anything if you have something between you you're not gonna post it yeah so you don't you're not gonna show that who you're dating or let's show yeah this show there's just uh the content we do together and she has a boyfriend so and it's amazing are you surprised by how well it performs because uh her boyfriend she uh he created the videos and uh he was with her which is wait when you guys do the videos her boyfriend's always yeah yeah and is he a fighter as well or no no he's a content creator he does every videos and like he's so smart and he does a lot of social media for her they work together they work together and like wow and this is him yeah so he's uh he's a good looking guy i didn't know this i i thought she was single no no no she's not single is she is this her husband or her boyfriend boyfriend okay all right so and he's doing the content yeah we're like my team and her team and he's always on her team and he helps her with everything did you say earlier you have kids or you don't i don't i don't have two kids you have two kids so are you married or married you are married yeah god So my youngest daughter, she's like a fighter, but the older one, she doesn't like fighters or anything. Two girls. Yeah, maybe the young one is going to be a fighter. And Armand, you're married to an Armenian? Yeah. To an Armenian, from where you're at. Yeah. Very cool. Yeah. That was my mom's dream. My mom's dream was, you know, my son is going to marry an Armenian. Yeah, but it doesn't matter. If you find the right person, who cares? Armenian, American, white, Chinese. Is two enough for you or are you going to keep making babies? Eleven kids. Eleven kids. That's the goal. Armand, are you a Christian or you're a Christian? Yeah. Got it. You're thinking to gain three more wives? Well, you can speed it up because, you know, there are certain markets that you can accelerate that process. You know, I don't know if... Nowadays you can do the thing, what's it called? Surrogate. What do you think about that? I think it's okay. Would you entertain it? If you want more kids, yeah. I brought it up to my kids. My youngest son is like, you can never have surrogate. I said, why? I said, it's your mommy and daddy's. It's your brother or sister. He says, no, no, if it's not in my mom's stomach. No way. I'm telling you. He told me. No. By the way, he looks Armenian. His mom's white, Texan, but Dylan looks Armenian, and he has the Armenian temper and blood. He's going to be a fighter, huh? We'll see what he does. Right now, he plays. He's the one to the left. He plays soccer, and he does some other sports. But we'll see. We'll see what's going to happen with them. By the way, did you ever train with any Armenian fighters? Like, did you train with other Armenian UFC fighters? Yeah, I trained to Melsik, Edmund, Shahbazan. Yeah, so. But they're in different weight class. That's why we don't train together. And they cannot keep up with me. Who's going to keep up with you today, though? Yeah, that's hard. so but you see me and Hamza we do it together and like when we're in the gym always argue who does this better who does this better so but I'm the number one on the bike cannot break my record you're the number one on the bike yeah in bike what what's number one like who can go the fastest who can like keep more watts on the bike I'm number one from garage so put the garage thing yeah yeah so in this bike from fighters nobody can beat me other thing and this thing for the shoulders yeah so two of those nobody but other thing like running speed running or like I don't know what an exercise so they drop the ball while you're carrying the weight as well you're pushing up the weight yeah this is coach Carl and he has his own garage he doesn't like fancy things we just go there and train train hard and he pushed ourselves so much so when I'm at home I want to try to break the record I cannot because he's not there I gotta listen to his voice and he's trying to push me so much Is he your coach or is he his coach? It's my coach and then when he came he trained with him and he liked it so good coach but he has his own coaches too with him like a jujitsu and boxing yeah with you doing the life that you're living right now how much is the expense on a monthly basis how much money are you spending in one place I said 500,000 but it was wrong was it more or less my dad called me after that where you spend 500,000 now I gotta say 100,000 You got to tell them $100,000. I mean, so I have a big team, right? I have a big team. I have coaches. I have like a lifestyle family. If you were buying like a vouchers, we're buying houses, we're buying cars. If you're going to like count everything, it's going to be $500,000. Per month? Yeah. So your lifestyle expense right now is $6 million a year? About. And is your fighting income and sponsorship paying for that lifestyle? Or not yet? About, yeah. So about. Yeah, and I have a business in Russia that I make money. Yeah, so. And I always have on my back Russian money. So if I need it. You have access to that as well. I call it. Yeah, you have access to that as well. Yeah, you know, I grew up there. I live there. So I know how to make money over there. What's Russia to you? We're in America. So to us, you know, we have a different, you know, Americans may have a different impression of, you know, Russia. What's Russia to you? What makes Russia special for you? Wherever I go to travel, to stay, you want to go back to Russia. No matter here, Miami, so beautiful, roads, beach, food, cars, yachts. but you don't feel like you're at home and you want to go back to home. My home is from Russia. I grew up there. I like nature there. I like food there. Everything was going on over there. I like it. Do you see yourself as a Russian or Armenian? Say again? Do you see yourself as Russian or Armenian? Citizen? No. Do you see yourself? Do you see yourself? Highest or Russian? No, no. I'm Armenian. You're Armenian. Yeah, I'm Armenian. But I live in Russia. And where I live in Krasnodar, it's like a lot of Armenian people, like about 500,000 Armenian people live. Where are you at now? Yeah, it's like a Glendale in the U.S. Over there. I've got to go to it. I've never been to it. Yeah, Russia, it's good. It's clean. It's safe. It's clean. It's safe. If you compare it to U.S., it's safer and cleaner. Russia. Yeah, Russia. Safer and cleaner. So safe. Tell me why safer. So you can walk anywhere, any watches, nobody can come and try to grab you. Why is that? Why do you think? Because people are scared to do something. Why? Because they go to jail right away. They're not going to sue with you or do something. If you steal, you go to jail. And they cleaned the mafia, everything. Now it's a so safe country, and I've never heard someone scared about watch. Like, for example, here or L.A., you cannot go somewhere with your watches or with your cars. You cannot get into some certain places. But in Russia, you can go anywhere, any places, and it never happens. Because people are afraid of the consequences? And because of that, and they clean the bad people too, so they're in the jail. So all mafia is in the jail now, or like they're brought off from Russia. Wow. So that's why I never think like about bodyguard in Russia, or like, oh, my family cannot go outside or something. But here, like everybody, every celebrity has a bodyguard. Every fighter is like who has a big name, they have a bodyguard. and people they respect you so much especially if you're a fighter or they don't even come and like try to ask you about something get the picture they just respect your time you know over there over there yeah and if they tell them you're in a rush so let they let you go but here they can be talk to you you know and like say no no stop i want a picture this that and then you need to someone to say them, please, he got to go. So people here, they don't afraid that they can get a problem, but there they're afraid because they let you do whatever you want to do. How do Russians think of Putin? Is it a high level of respect and admiration? Yeah, mostly people like him because they live there. They respect what he's doing. They like him. and so Have you met him yet? Yeah, two times. Really? Yeah, two times and I was fighting for his team so we got the pictures you can put it so you see young me. Oh wow, how old are you here? 20 years old. Armand, it's a very different look. Yeah, but I was 20 or 19. And what was this year? It was 17 or 18. it says 2025 yeah so I was fighting two times he has his own promotion it's once a year once a year in the Sochi and the Russian fighters versus the world so they bring all fighters from the world and and yeah they fight is that Fedor? It's a failure, yeah. Really? Yeah. Wow. Man, he still has the... Matter of fact, he looks better now. Yeah, he's feet now. Yeah, he looks better now. What did Putin tell you? Was it just a meeting or did he say anything? I asked her, can I take a picture? She said, of course. Of course you take a picture. And then, yeah, he's cool and he likes the fighter. He helps so much fighters and wrestlers and everybody in Russia. So if you're a wrestler, for example, here, government, they don't pay money to you. But in Russia, we get paid. If you're like an Olympic team, if you're a Russian champion, you get paid money. If you win once in your life Olympic medal, you're getting paid all your life until you die. You're serious? Yeah, yeah. You can check this information. So you win one medal, you're getting paid for the rest of your life? Yeah, like $1,000. For the rest of your life? Yeah, but can you imagine if you win three times? you're getting paid $3,000 or $4,000. Every month for the rest of your life? Every month, yeah, you can check it out. Very interesting business model. So it's not like you're getting paid one time, because in America, I think we pay you one time. One time? No, America doesn't pay even one time. They tell you you've got to find a sponsorship, and they pay you the sponsorship. You get the money that way. Huh. But in Russia, they pay their medalist, so there's an incentive to win for the rest of your life. But can you check they pay you, how much they pay? Rob, can you check to see, go and ask and say, what does Russia pay its Olympic athletes if they win a medal? It was like $800, like I heard. Because I have a lot of friends. Who have won. Yeah. Medal. M-E-D-A-L. Okay, there you go. So for recent Beijing, Russia has paid roughly $50,000 to $60,000 for gold, $30,000 to $35,000 for silver, $20,000 to $25,000 for bronze. Some broader estimates go a little bit lower. But here's the real kicker. Russia often goes above and beyond just cash, luxury cars, apartments worth half a million to a million, regional bonuses from local governments, extra payouts from Sports Federation. Total rewards can be hundreds of thousands of dollars to a million plus. Wow. Yeah, it's an Olympic sport. They take care of them so much. So, for example, if you want to be a box, you go to school, you don't pay money. If you're a wrestler, you go to school, you don't pay money for the sport. How do they define you that you have to be at a certain level of skill set? No, if you're a kid, you go to the school, you don't pay money for your sport in Russia. No matter how old you are? No matter if it's not commercial. There is like a... Every area has his own... The government pay for that school that kids can train for free. So you go there. So when I was young, I was wrestling, right? Even government pay me for my traveling. If I traveled to somewhere to compete, they pay that money for our travel even. Yeah, they take care of Olympic sports so much and they... For example, you're a fighter. Even Khabib, he got paid for his gym. Vladimir Vladimovich built for him a gym. For example, you want gold and you want to build your own gym, they give you money to build your own gym. If you're a gold medalist. Yeah. So Putin helped Khabib build his gym. Yes. That is powerful. Yeah, I mean, they take care of... For example, somewhere, you go somewhere in Russia, if you're a fighter or wrestler in government or somewhere, they take care of you because you do something for your country. They take care of you so much. So, yeah, they take care of you different. I didn't know that. I mean, in the U.S., it's an opportunity to make so much money. It's a lot of good things here, a lot of good things there. Do you get sponsorship money there or no? It's mainly from the government. In Russia, no, I got. So you get sponsorship as well. Yeah, I got energy drink in Russia. In Russia, that'll pay you as well. Yeah, yeah. So you get a little bit of both. Yeah. Long term, after UFC, do you have any thoughts on what you're going to do after UFC? Depends how much money I make. But I want to have a house. I want to live in Russia, my home base. But I want to travel around the world, come to US, enjoy Miami, and then from Miami to L.A., from L.A. to New York, from New York to Hawaii, and then go back. Because wintertime is not the best weather in Russia. But from May to October is Russia weather. Can you pull up Russia's map, Rob? Just curious what part you're from. Go to Sochi. I want to show the... Yeah, right there. the mountains that we do we ski we do snowmobile everything over there so we're here this is Sochi go to go to the Krasna Poliana this is the Sochi this is the biggest this is the the sea so this is the mountains can you put the Sochi mountains it's beautiful just the pictures pictures yeah from the browser yeah check it out oh my god oh my god click on that picture right there rob the first one is zooming on that picture so beautiful wow yeah i mean when you stay in russia a long time you want to leave from there too you want to go somewhere travel and then come back. Totally makes sense. But we're never going to get you in the US. You're never going to be living here. You're always going to go back to Russia. I mean, I like to be here from November. From May to November? November, December, January, February, March. And April maybe. Six months here, six months there. May to November there and then the rest over here because the weather. Yeah. And you're home here, you were telling me. You were saying you're... LA, LA. When I landed to LA, I feel like I'm in Russia as well. Armenia. Yeah, Russia. Because when I'm in Armenia, I cannot stay a long time there. Everybody knows me. It's hard. Have you met the prime minister of Armenia yet, Pashinyan? No. Have they ever reached out to you? No. Never? Never. Would you want to go meet him? I mean, I did so much for this country. Of course, I would like to... I'm surprised they've never reached out. To them to do something because... I'll make one phone call. They never done something for me, you know, like at least maybe give me a small medal that I'm doing there and putting the flag on my shoulders and like running out in the whole U.S., you know. Oh, they're going to reach out to you. There's no way in the world. If you've got a guy like you that you're doing what you're doing. For sure they know about me. Of course they know about you. I mean, I don't need their help, but if they want to help me, I'll be glad, you know. Yeah, I think if you were to go visit. But Armenians from Russia, they help me. So Armenians from Russia, they help me a lot. How do you view the difference? Yerevan C? No, no, I'm saying because my friends from Russia who is in business, they help me. They give me houses. They give me apartments. so yeah Armand question for you can you like what does it mean to be Armenian because to me I'm Armenian and a Syrian but what does it mean to be Armenian for me yeah I'm proud to be Armenian I'm proud to represent Armenian I want to be a first Armenian champion and so in UFC we don't have like a number of contenders like a good fighter so he's going to be a champion very soon but I'm going to sign young kids and I see the potential so big maybe because of me because the sport is growing up so fast getting so popular that's why a lot of kids are training and now I have a couple kids who are like 19, 18 and if they're going to be in UFC they can be a champion Back in Russia? Mostly in Russia mostly in Russia because in Armenia it's not so popular but we got someone from there too and I want to bring the belt I want to represent Armenia and be a first champion because Russia has already a lot of champions so yeah but anyway belt first belt first and then I bring to Armenia so like oh my god that would be a spectacle So, Armandjan, let me tell you, you know, everybody I speak to in the Armenian side, when they talk about you, you are beloved. They love you. Thank you. Absolutely love you. And you got, you know this already, so I don't need to tell you this. They're rooting for you and we can't wait for the day. And I like Ilya. I like Teporia. You know, there's something very, because both of you guys, what's going to make this exciting, both people have a lot of pride from the country they're from. He's got a very interesting dynamic. It'll be interesting to see how much animosity there is between Spain and Russia. I don't know. Spain, Russia, Armenia versus Georgia. That's right. I was born in Georgia. My home, like, for example, when we go to Armenia, we stay there one day and then drive back to Georgia and stay there because our home in Georgia. So we'll build a new house now in Georgia. and all my family live there so even like we close to Georgia so now like Armenia versus Georgia but I live in Russia and he lives in Spain and like they're gonna know who's the best fighter in 155 division because in Russia yeah I'm Armenian but Russian people they they support me so much too They know I live there. They know I'm going to bring the belt into the Russian home. If it doesn't happen on the White House card, and if your ideal place that you would want to fight Tuporia, where would it be? No matter when, no matter where. Anytime, anywhere. Anytime, anywhere. I just need that belt. Even not Tuporia. I don't care. I just need to be First get the belt And then I'm gonna get This hat the big hat So big names Because Right now for me It number one to be a UFC champion and I know I know myself I know my skills I can beat them it not it not going to be a big problem for me yeah this is good side quest the RAF grappling like a media but and then of days if they they ask me what are you gonna take UFC belt or this whole thing so I need just UFC belt because I wake up and I do this for UFC title too I'm not doing this because like I need that because like make money from that just that UFC gonna gonna know that it's big name because of this media I'm making my name bigger and my goal is UFC. So right now it's that. But then when I become a UFC champion, I'm going to go for the names and make money. Because, like, you know, my lifestyle. You've got to make money. Yeah, it's expensive. And thank God I got money. Have you thought about starting a product? Are you working on a product? Because. not yet i don't want to uh think about like about business that gonna take my time so that's why i'm just focusing only on my uh social media and on them on my trainings because when i'm done when i'm gonna be like done with uc sport when i'm gonna be like 37 38 yeah i'm gonna do my products or something. But I think when I'm going to be 37, I'm not going to need products and everything. So I'm going to have a bunch of money, good investments, and family, man. So enjoy retirement. Yeah, and you'll be in Russia from May to November and in LA or Miami or other places November to April. Maybe April. You said March. Yeah, from November beginning of November and then of October beginning of November here and then of March. All right. So, but summertime sometimes in Europe too. In Europe too. Yeah. It's your favorite spot. In Europe? Yeah. To be honest, I like all spots. Yeah. I like to travel around Europe. Have you been all over? No, not yet. Not yet, but I've been a lot of places. Have you been to Monaco yet? Yeah. You've been to Monaco. Yeah. I'm assuming you love Monaco. Yeah, for sure. Central Bay, Monaco. With my lifestyle, yeah. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. with your lifestyle. That's a, when you go to Monaco, you realize how broke you are. Yes. You go to Monaco, you know the average net worth of a person living in Monaco is $30 million? No, I feel broke every day because I have a lot of friends who is like a, who has a lot of money when they talk about money and I talk about two to three millions. They're laughing at me. So everybody has his own thing, you know? Yeah. That's why, So we work on it. You know, everybody has his own. But you have the one skill set that's very hard, Armand. You have a, so, you know, currency is indifferent. You know, Bitcoin could be a currency. Real estate is a currency, right? Stocks is a currency. All this stuff is a currency. Getting attention is a currency. And, dude, you are a master at getting attention, and you do it in the most effortless way. And that currency, people pay. There's a reason why for Super Bowl, they pay $10 million for a 30-second commercial to get in front of 110 million people. And you don't have a problem doing that. Yeah. What about Bitcoin? It's at $65,000, $70,000 right now. If it goes to half a million, that's 8x. I think if you're making money you got to rob it one up 3.4% today yes sir do you buy bitcoins I have bitcoin I have bitcoin not a lot though I probably have less than 5 million in bitcoin but my money is more in equities I have probably 100 million in real estate you know The best real estate in Russia, by the way. Best real estate in Russia. Tell me why. Safety? Safety and it never falls, so it's going up so much. Really? Yeah. Russia real estate? Yeah. And if you have friends who are developers and they give you a good price and you can double your money in one year. In Russia? In Russia. Really? So if you want to make money, let me know. We make money there. Let's do it. So we're going to buy property in Russia together. No, no, no. For example, like, sorry for interrupting. For example, you buy a commercial or a house, right? Here you've got to wait like 20 years. For example, you buy a commercial, $100,000, for example, and you give it to rent. You're getting back your money in 20 years here. But in Russia you get back in eight years, eight to ten. How is that? You're saying the rate of return is that good in Russia? Yeah, better than here because I calculate everything. And, yeah, the return is faster. And, like, the price is growing faster. Are you investing a lot right now as well or no? Yeah, I invest mostly in Russia. Mostly in Russia. Because I know people, developers. Connections, content. I know, like, where. But your dad was also in construction. Yeah. So he knows everybody. That's why it's easier. For example, if I buy something, he does everything instead of me. Oh, yeah, of course. So we don't waste money. And you can't get ripped off because you know that business. Your dad knows that business. You see, that's half the battle. Half the battle is the average person that gets into an industry, it takes three, five years, you know, seven years of making mistakes, and then you make money. Yeah. But if you can get into a space that you already have the context, the relationship, and somebody can teach you to not make the mistakes, there's nobody better than a dad to share that with you. I can't wait to meet your dad. I'm actually curious to know what his personality is. He needs an American visa. He doesn't, he cannot get it, get the American visa. Five times he was in the embassy, five times he didn't give him. I don't know why. He is not a terrorist. Five times he tried to get it, they didn't give it. Yeah, but maybe they ask him questions and he's worried that he wants to get the American visa so much. That's why he's worried and they think he has something to hide. I think when you become a champion, you're going to be able to do a lot of things you want to do. Yeah, yeah. And it'll be a phone call. Yeah, but it's okay. Me to be a champion, he's going to be good in Russia. So just bring their belt and give it to him. He's going to be happy. Yeah, but he likes U.S. I don't know why. People who have never been in the U.S., they like more than who is in the U.S. Everybody wants to come here. It's true. It's true, yeah. It's a land of opportunity because you can create something. What's different? You're in Russia all the time. Yeah, because in Russia, less people, less money. People have no so much money like here. For example, you open the restaurant, right? Here's so much people coming, tourists. A lot of people live here, and you're going to have customers. And, for example, in Russia, if you're smart, the millionaires and billionaires less in Russia because it's hard to, how do you say, for example, here you have a lot of opportunities, so much. in russia if you're smart you you you you can make more money than here but here like for example you came from russia you have nothing and you're not the smartest person ever you can even go to uber you you make money six or seven thousand and you can afford the house for your family and food but in russia if you're like an uber driver you cannot afford you got to do something different because of people because of people so for example they don't have people don't have so much money like here they have money the salary average of salary in US is bigger than in Russia and here a lot of tourists so much tourists LA a lot of tourists how many flights is landing in LA Russia doesn't have a lot of tourists not so much like here because the weather maybe weather and visas I think and like they don't have so much thing like US has you know from movies everybody wants to come to go to New York to see New York Miami every movie is from Miami everybody has a dream to come to see Ocean the Ocean Drive or what's it called because of movies everything is coming from here and like people have what a way I mean it's crazy because when I was in Iran we watched movies about here so everyone's rocking oh my god I want to go see what New York is looking like and all this stuff. The movie industry almost promoted and sold America to the world. Yes. Everybody wants to come from New York. If you're going to ask every girl in Russia where you want to go, I want to go to New York. And they don't know, maybe it's not the cleanest city in the world, it's not the safest city in the world, but everybody wants to go there. Yeah. And that's why they bring a lot of tourists here. Well, a lot of men here want to go to Russia, find a wife, and come back here because Russia's got some beautiful women over there. Yeah, one of the best. One of the best. Great genetics. Yeah, so you've got to come, Russia. I look forward to it. I really want to go to Russia. And then you're going to see what's different from Russia. Where do I go if I go there? If you tell me two places to visit. Of course, I think I've got to go to Moscow, Leningrad. Yeah, yeah, that place is. And then you come to Sochi. We go to Mountain. Okay. We eat good food. Was that video on Sochi? The snowboarding? No, it was in Khrushchev. It was in Khrushchev. Yeah. Got it. Yeah, I really want to go to Russia for a couple of weeks. Yeah, you will love Russia. You will love Russia. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I have a friend who lives all his life in the U.S., but they come to Armenia and they want to go, or Russia, they want to go back because they grew up here. They love, they live. Should I worry, like, should my wife be worried that if I go to Russia, or maybe I don't come back? Or will I come back? No, you'll come back, but maybe not alone. You're so funny. We're not going to tell. My wife's going to be like, babe, why are you going to Russia so often? All of a sudden, Rob, we're setting up a podcast set in Russia where there's six months out of the year, business changes, lifestyle changes. Yeah, but everywhere is good. Everywhere is good if you have the right people. and uh so i'm in the u.s nobody like do they treat you good when you're in the streets here does anybody bother you they're all respectful so good respectful and uh yeah for example yes i was sitting on the table and like one drunk guy came and like trying to like like uh like he did like this like squeezing your breath squeezing i'm like his kid you know and uh that day i don't know why my friends gave me like bodyguard but i don't need bodyguard right so he squeezed me and like i churned like he was like albanian guy you know bro i respect you this that i said bro like if you respect me why you like treat me like your kid sorry i was drunk he was a good guy so he said sorry this that but can you imagine if the he was starting like why you saying that and like and then So when I turn, the bodyguard said I was already angry. Why do you treat me like this? I'm not your kid. Come and squeeze the shoulder or whatever. Don't do that if you respect me, right? You told them that. Yeah, and I said if you respect me, don't do that. Albanians are tough. Albanians are also tough. Yeah, but in the U.S. you can meet everybody. Has anybody tried to fight you or no? At all. Has there ever been a time where you travel and someone try to fight you? No. No. So, not yet, maybe. But if they want to fight me, it's not a problem. I know how to fight and not get hurt myself. No, I think it's a bad idea. That's the thing, you know, sometimes where you go and one time, do you remember Diego Sanchez? Old UFC fighter? Yeah, yeah. He used to go, yes, yes, yes. He was one of my favorite fighters. One day, one of our friends, he goes to a party at a house in L.A., and he has no clue who he is. And my friend's a regular guy. He's not like a tough guy. He's not a fighter, but he's a big guy. He walks up to him and says something to him. And Diego looks at him and says, you say one more thing, I'm going to kill you. And Diego looked scary, right, when he was fighting. He comes back around. He's like, I'm going to go kick that guy's ass. And then one of Diego's people walks over and says, listen, just want to let you know, that's the wrong guy to fight. That's Diego Sanchez. It looks him up. The challenge is you pick on sometimes the wrong guys who know how to fight. Who knows what could happen? And nowadays, you know, Armand, more and more people are learning how to fight. 30 years ago in L.A., people would fight all the time. You don't know who you were fighting. So at least two people who don't know how to fight, they're fighting. They just have a temper. Now, there are more people who know how to fight today than 30 years ago. Yeah, for sure. But, you know, all times something happens, right? I meet every day some different people. I can feel like, you know, for example, if they tell me even bad words, I just turn and go. If he's not a fighter or if he didn't do something to me. Why do you do that? Why do you walk away? because i don't need the trouble first of all i don't want to hurt him i don't i have a like a goal i have a family i'm not stupid like go to jail and i can every day something happens because right now i'm famous and like a lot of people come do this that like for example in russia if someone come and squeeze me and if my friends see that they're gonna like fight him right away or just like a like different they that's because of they can fight him they're not going to do that because they're afraid they're not like come and touch someone like even like a fighter how you can come if you respect him like touch like this in Russia that won't happen it won't happen because they know they're going to kick out from this place if you do by the way what happened with Ryan Garcia you had your friend with you and he said hey punch him in the stomach for $40,000 No, he has $40,000 with him. Okay. He said he wanted to punch Ashton Hall, the guy who is running. The runner, yes. And Ashton has said, no. I said, bro, like $40,000 for me is nothing. Double it, I'll take three punches. He said, no, I'm not rich like you. There's that. I said, okay, here's my friend. You want to punch him? He said, yes, let's do it. And he put money on the strayers. I said, bro, I don't have cash with me. I'll show him my bank account That I have 40k there I said I'll leave my phone here When we're done If you could hit him Hurt him and he's gonna drop I'll wire you right away Because in my culture If you shake the hand And like we bet You gotta give back money You cannot like say So he punched it three times He couldn't drop him And I took the money And his accountant or whatever came and said, bro, here's more than $40,000. Let me go upstairs, like count money and then come back. I said, okay. He came back without money. I said, where's the money? No, no, bro, we wire you. We need this money for tonight. We do something. I said, right, no. I need now my money. He said, bro, I swear to God, like a man's word, I'm going to wire you tomorrow. One week, nothing. And someone interviewed me, did you get paid back? I said, no, he didn't send me money. You never got the money? Yeah, and he didn't even call me, what's your wire or why I'm not sending. And I FaceTimed him and I said, bro, what's going on? Bro, you didn't tell me your guy is a professional boxer. I said, why I should tell you he's a professional boxer? I said, this is my friend. If you want to punch him, punch him. I'm not stupid to say to you, oh, listen, he's a professional fighter. He's going to take your shots, and I'm not going to bet you. I'm going to bet you. So he thought you hustled him. Yeah. So I'm a smart guy. I want to bet and make money, right? So why I should tell him he's a professional boxer? And you see he's like a huge guy with a broken nose. You've got to think like, yeah, he does something. And then he fought with him. he did the boxing the sparring with him on the body shot when? the same day and he didn't say this guy's professional word he didn't say anything oh so before this they sparred? no after this they sparred ok so you want to show is this the punch? let me see it real quick let me see it real quick Rob no not there it's going to be right here he knows the point that he can't hit no I know he knows no I why come up no I come up I don't think I can do this. So he felt it that he's not going to drop it because he's a boxer. He felt that he's not going to drop it with his one punch. And he has two left. And he stopped it and he's saying, I don't want to hurt him because he already knows he's not going to drop him. Listen to what he's saying. I rather spar. I rather spar. Now he wants to spar. You can take it, brother. I'm rather spar him. Yeah, you take it by then. Yeah, you guys got it. Wait, you took the cash, then this guy comes, takes him from you, and you never got the money back. No, no, and then I said, no, it's not fair. They'll punch him two times again. Let's do it. I'd rather fight. Yeah, yeah. Oh, no, he threw it three times. He couldn't drop him. No hitter. They did. good doing business with you brother sad face for me so and then they spark but uh to be honest i don't care about 40k just uh so you never got the money no no and then i call him and say bro like what's going on why you didn't say money he said bro it was a stream so we always do on the stream like this and I said okay so what I'm going to say to him we have a different culture they do stream and they do yeah but you're a serious guy yeah they live like this I live different and then he said let's do sparring let's do 8 rounds this that I said okay let's do sparring but box but let me use my elbows he said no problem So now we're waiting. We're going to do a sparring. So I can box him, but I have elbows. You're not worried about if you box him against Ryan? No. So you can't kick or wrestle. It's just boxing, except you can use elbows. Yeah, I can use elbows. And you think you're going to hang with Ryan? Yeah, I'm going to try. Ryan's a legit wrestler. Oh, there's no question. But elbows could help me too. Elbows could help you. He never hit with elbows. elbows there is nothing yeah it's nothing yeah even oh it hits the face he's one cut that's it yeah so and then it uh you got to get in though right you got to get and then and then got the reach now he said he he tweeted he after that conversation he tweeted let's do eight rounds i'll pay you a hundred k so eight rounds and i i tweet him back i'll give you cash one million if you survive one round in a minute. So now she's waiting, just waiting. But it's just trash talking, you know. Yeah, and he's good at it as well. He's good on his thing, I'm good on my thing. Yeah, totally. Both of you guys get eyeballs. You know, at one point, he was the guy in the boxing time, and I hope he gets back into it because he's actually a very exciting fighter. Yeah. He's a very exciting fighter. Fast. Yeah, he is very rare you... But now I know if I'm going to do a stream with him, I'm not going to have the bad money. Or if you do, take the money and don't give it to his accountant when he comes up to you. First time in my life someone like... You say stuff like this. If an Armenian sees him in the streets, you don't want the Armenians to go after him and say, Hey, you know, I told Hamza. No, no, I told Hamza. He said, 40K? I'll go for 40k to his house I said bro like please do your thing leave him alone and then we figure out so yeah but we'll see when we see him we talk to him and we figure out maybe we do some different bad but it's you know it's always but I have a bad with Aiden Rose Hamzat versus Hamzat versus I put 50k on Hamzat he put 50k on Strickland and I told him he put 50 Strickland against Hamzat? I wanted to put like 1 million he said 50 I said ok 50 against Hamzat he put 50 it's a tough fight you never know even Hamzat my friend he's my brother but you never know it's a fight and Strickland is a tough fighter so he has a lot of good things when is it? May 9th but I told Adrian Rose brother fly out with money over there cash and I'm going to bring cash as well is that GSP sitting next to you? yeah Legend. He's like one of the nicest legends of all time. He was with the streamer, with me, you know, like GSP. Like he was in the zoo with us. Yeah. He got in the zoo with us. And that's not his style. He's not that guy. He's a low-key guy. But when he was with us, we were like good, you know, like respectful. When he was gone and like we started like talking shit. Yeah. He is truly a class act. Yeah. He's a class act. Different level. Yeah. Strickland, you know, Strickland is a guy that, did you see the clip that one time where a guy came in to try to rob him? Have you seen that clip? Yeah, with the gun. He came out with the gun. Yeah, and he just, I don't remember what happened. No, he's really like this. Oh, he? He carries all day the gun and like. No, he's a tough guy. He's not a, is this it? I think he is. I think he shows up out of nowhere I don't know if this is the one or not but there's a clip where he came outside with a gun yeah so Strickland is not a guy to be messing around with but at the same time I mean listen you know Kamzad is I hope it's a good fight that's the only thing any of these things that happen you want to see a good fight it's going to be a good fight and I'm so excited for that fight. Yeah. You're going to be there? Yeah. That's going to be, May is going to be where? Where is that fight at? New Jersey. New Jersey. Okay. Got it. New Jersey. And then June is going to be, are you going to be at the White House? We'll see. I got to talk to you, see how maybe it is, maybe not. So if you're not, if you're not on the card, are you going to go? I feel you have to be there. Yeah, I have to be there. You have to, Because right away the camera is going to go right on you. Yeah, I got to ask UFC and we'll see what they got. Oh, there is no way in the world you're not going to be there. Like it's not going to be them. It's going to be you choosing to be there. They have to have you in the arena. So we'll see. They didn't ask me like to be there, but I'm going to ask them. If I'm not going to fight, let me sit on the first row and like to be there because it's my title fight. It's in my weight class. If not, I heard they're selling tickets, so I just buy it and go. Who cares? You don't need to buy it. I think Dana, you know, whoever it is, because here's what's going to happen. Whatever ends up happening, say 90-10 Teporio wins. And Justin is still a dog. Like, he can make one contact and it's a… Never know. Can I imagine? We're like underestimated Gage and he goes and knocks him out. By the way, every single time he's been in a fight, every single time he's been in a fight, you're like, wow, you know, maybe the other guy could win it. Even less than him. And he comes out of, he's like, how the hell does he do? He's an insane fighter. He's an insane fighter. So much experience. He has so much experience, yeah. But whatever happens in the results, the camera's going to pan out and it's going to go right here. Yeah. That's what's going to happen. It's going to go right here. And then. I'm excited. Yeah. I'm excited. I'm excited. I'm going to try to be there as well. If you're going to go there and they're fighting, I'm going to try to go there as well myself. And we went to this last one. Dana is, in my opinion, he's the best promoter in the world out of all sports. Dana is one of a kind and we're a big fan. Armand John, this was great. I really appreciate you coming out. I'm glad we exchanged messages and we made it work. I know you had a fight going on, so you did your thing and now you're here. And I look forward to the day we celebrate as the first Armenian UFC champion. Yeah, so when I get the belt, I flew out here and put the belt on this table and we talk again. 100% and then maybe we fly to Armenia together. And then that's a whole different story. And we go out there and celebrate how the people are going to be celebrating with you. What's your favorite food? I like it. One of Armenian. Armenian? Dolma? Dolma, I'm paiman. But, you know, remember, I'm Parskahay. Yeah. So Parskahay for me, we have this stew called Hormes Sabzi. I don't know if you've had it or not. Have you ever gone to Rafi's place? Yeah, I've been there. Okay, so if you go to Rafi's place with the stew that they have, can you type in Gormes Sabzi? How he's going to type it? He tried to spell it. Okay, do G-H-O-R-M-E and then go space. There you go, right there. And then go to images. I'm not even kidding. You're watching it. I'm getting hungry. Yeah. That is the greatest meal. if I have a last meal, they come to me, they said, what do you want your last meal to be? It's this guy right here. Yeah, I've tried this. And if the people know how to make it? With the rice? With the rice, yeah, and maybe a little bit of somach. I know that kind of... So now you gave me an idea of what I'm going to do next for my food in the... Oh, if you know how to make this. No, no, I just order and do food content with this food. Oh, brother. I'm willing to bet anybody that's watching this right now that is Armenian or Parska or Iranian, they're going to know about Gourmet Sabzi stew. This is hands down the greatest meal in the world. You will age backwards if you eat it from the right person. It's that good. Yeah. Brother, anytime. Thank you so much. Absolutely. I'll see you in Washington, D.C. I look forward to it. If you're telling me you're going, I look forward to it. I've got to find a way to get out there. I'll call Dana Hunter, and they're going to let me be there. It's a must. Because I'm their favorite fighter. You're their favorite fighter. That's right. No issues, nothing. No problems with you. All good. Contact is fine. Easiest guy to deal with. Yes. Easiest guy to deal with. Never, ever problem with me. No. No more maniac anymore. No more. No more head money. Good guy. Yes. can't imagine me doing something in the White House. Well, listen, you said spectacle, but there's a balance to it, right? You got to know what you do. There's snipers at the top. You got drones. You got the president sitting there. Have you met the president? I've seen him, but not in person. You haven't met him? I'm a big fan of Trump too. There you go. You like strong personalities. Trump, Putin. Take care, everybody. Bye-bye, bye-bye. have a bigger team and deliver a better product to you. So if you haven't yet, if you don't mind, press that subscribe button. It would mean the world to us. Thank you so much.