Video
Original Description
Jim and Matt start today's show two hours earlier than usual to accomodate two exciting guests fighting on this Saturday's UFC Azerbaijan card: heavyweight Mohammed Usman and women's bantamweight Melissa Mullins.
Looking to bookend a second straight win from an Usman brother following Kamaru's victorious main event in Atlanta, younger brother Mohammed Usman talks about how he draws inspiration from his legendary brother’s success ahead of an explosive matchup against Hamdy Abdelwahab. Mohammed also sheds light on the Hall-of-Fame guidance he’s receiving from Rashad Evans — who is now in charge of leading his corner.
Melissa uses her first time on the show to discuss her journey into the world of professional martial arts. Mullins sets the table for her upcoming rematch with Daria Zhelezniakova by breaking down what she respects from her veteran opponent in Saturday's second go-around.
Finally, Jim and Matt wrap things up with a pair of fight picks each from the UFC Azerbaijan card headlined by Jamahal Hill and Khalil Rountree Jr.
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Video Transcript
it's just a testament to my coaches my brother everybody that's been with me my teammates and uh I felt like I did it
tonight mohamad the motor [Music]
uh I am a dominant ground pair i I won the world so I think that showcases my
my caliber in that it's just who's going to turn up on the night you know your winner by TKO Melissa No Miss Mullen
welcome to UFC Unfiltered please tell me that's on video
i've never been happier i'm made for a podcast
that's dangerous listen to me we're out of here
[Music] welcome to UFC Unfiltered a UFC and
Fanatics original production today uh interesting uh show we're recording or
earlier than normal because uh uh Azeraijan is where the fighters are and there's a tremendous time difference
jamal Hill Kul Roundree Jr what a fight that's going to be prelims are this
Saturday at 12:00 p.m eastern and the main card starts at 3 it's on ABC and ESPN Plus which is amazing everyone can
see it we're going to be bringing in our first guest uh shortly it's Muhammad Usman of course uh brother of the great
Kamaru Usman fighting Hamdi Abdullah Abdul Wahab uh opening fight of the uh
prelims and that is this Saturday um I love Don't you love a good afternoon
card is it the best yeah I enjoy it for a change but sometimes at night I do too
but I work at night so I'm going to be in Cleveland so I'll be able to watch the fight and uh everything will be done
by the time I go start yeah let's bring in um let's bring in Muhammad Usman
how you doing Muhammad how are you what's up Muhammad i'm doing good man how you guys doing very good muhammad
have you been watching Pey Blinders no I haven't that hat brings me right to
Pey Blinders bro my one my one of the guys out here that's taking care of me and Rashad uh you know they've been
taking us around the city man and then uh you know part of this fight game is you got to be able to like not be so in
the fight all the time so he so he basically was letting us know like the old school gangsters uh this is what
they wore he said they'll sit on the streets drink their tea and the gangsters will wear these hats and I was like give me one of those i li dude all
you're missing is a Tommy gun i'm I know right i I just saw um the movie Sinners
you ever see Sinners with Michael B jordan yeah yep i thought it was pretty good i thought of Tommy Gun because I
thought of that movie the movie I thought it was a good movie too you know I thought it was really People were
scared everybody was saying it's so frightening it's so this and that i was like it's just a vampire movie it's a
vampire it wasn't any more gory than a regular it wasn't nothing it was nothing scary or religious it was nothing it was
a vampire movie i enjoyed it i enjoyed all
and you've been going around this city i I always ask guys if they do some some do some don't do you typically go out
and see everything or is this just this is a place you've never been before it's man it's as I didn't even know about
this place until they said they they scheduled me to go fight this you know fight here so you know it's it's good to
just be able cuz my last couple fights been at the Apex so just to be a And then I'm out here with Rashad Evans so
just to be able to be out here man and and see the the atmosphere of the just
everything about this place is so beautiful and it's just just getting your mind ready to go to fight and where
where is it by the way how far away is it and what's the culture like there oh man it's in it's it's Baku Azeran so
we're right we're we're like we're like four hours away from Turkey Istanbul and it's uh man when I tell you this the the
people the it's so clean it's so nice it's like man do I need to live in
America still or do can I just come live out here it's like it's so beautiful man
it's uh it makes you It really makes you question living in America when you go out of places like this like it just
makes it just it just they just cherish everything so much more man it's just uh
it's just so beautiful it's got to be nice being a heavyweight out there you could probably eat a little bit you know
what I mean yeah man it's it's uh I'm grateful and uh and I'm grateful too because you know it's a everything is a
trial and error you know and uh and I've learned just in my in my time just in
this division is like you know first couple fights I was like I want to be I want to be fast and and and light and
and then you realize real quick this is a new generation these guys are 260 and
is just as fast so then now I'm giving up 40 lb to a guy that's just as fast so
there is no advantage you know so you want to have the weight you want to have your weight where you need it to be so
uh so now it's like I get to eat normal again i I'm coming into this fight my normal weight i feel strong and I feel
like that's what I that's that's what I've been missing now will you like with the eating is there certain things
you'll cut out just because you don't like have like certain sugars or whatever will affect your body like you
can't just eat whatever you want like you you don't have to worry about dieting but are you you're still cautious right yes yes i I went on a you
know like just the reality of it i wanted to eat clean a little bit so you know so I'll go come like two or three
weeks eating clean you know and then uh and and then you know I can eat whatever I want like I'm eating steak chicken
like we just had a dinner right here i'm with Rashad King Mo all these guys are right here right now by the water taking
pictures you know and it's uh it's amazing man and uh just taking in this culture and uh just it's just really
just just embracing everything it is to be a UFC fighter
we got Hamdy this weekend
are they talking to us uh no no no no all right buddy all right i thought I thought that was a question for me i
didn't know what the hell Um Hamy now look yes sir now you look at him now and
I think there's a reason why he's undefeated i can picture a little I can picture a little chubby Handy getting
picked on right a little chubby Handy getting thrown out Jimmy right here comes Andy let's get him anyway the
guy's undefeated but yet you have over twice as many fights you got the
experience and I'm I'm not recognizing too many names as he fought that he
fought what do you think what do you think about when you get a guy like HMD with an undefeated record he's just
another guy that uh that that's in my way and uh I watched his film you know he's ran through a lot of these guys and
uh and I I know he was out for two two years i don't if I'm mistaken and uh and
and that's the thing man and and and uh this sport is you know everybody wants
an edge in this sport everybody wants an advantage but we're not cheaters you know and and that's the thing man as you
know we'll do everything necessary to win right but we're not cheaters so when you see a guy that uh that's you know
that popped I guess you know when when you get things when you get things you know we've been doing this now for a
long time kamaru had such a great fight against uh Waen Buckley you must have been happy about that after a couple
losses and uh he looked as good uh Saturday night as he's looked in years so you must have been really happy with
that oh man you know I was ecstatic you know he's my brother you know like he wins I win you know that's the feeling
that you get from watching your brother like you know I stayed I was packing cuz I had to fly out in the morning and I
stayed up to watch his fight and I'm you know you know the nerves they never go away like the nerves never go away so
I'm watching the whole fight and every time he's he's he's he's in a standup situation with with Buckley i'm like
"Get him get him down get him down don't you know don't give him too much time you know because you know because it's
like you everything is about advantages and disadvantages the more Buckley with standing up that's his advantage sure so
you So it's like man get him where you want him get him where you want him you know and it's uh and my heart was racing
the whole fight man and when he got it done uh you know I I I tear it up too i mean
it's my brother man and it's uh as you get older I guess you get more soft you know in the aspect of like your family
is all we have you know and it's like you just want your family to be good man i know my mom was there dad everybody
was smiling i just felt uh I just felt very I just felt very happy for him yeah
it seemed like that was that we we had interviewed Buckley before that and I just thought that was such an important
fight for Camaro because again you know he was such a dominant champion for so long and he didn't just ek out a win i
mean he was really dominant in that fight and Buckley I think won the fifth but he still clearly dominated the first
four rounds so yeah that was a great fight no for sure and Muhammad let me
ask you now cuz Rashad Evans I just had him on my podcast the other day we had a blast he's been part of your part of
your team for the majority of your career is that right or from the from the beginning oh that's nice that's And
uh like he was literally I called three guys when I first started doing this i was like I called Rashad i said "Hey
Rashad I think I want to do this shit." He said "What?" I said "I think I want to start fighting." First guy he said
"Mo if" He said "Mo if you put the same effort you put into football into fighting you'll be a champion." And I
said I said "All right I'm going to go i'm going to start." And then that's when I And then that's when uh I started training and then you know I didn't do
any amateur fights so Rashad and a couple of these guys made some phone calls to start me off at Tachi Palace
and I made my pro debut and uh he's always been there but it it's uh you
know I had the coaches in my corner i'm sorry like even when I going walking out he's always been there he's always been
close by but but this fight man this it's just I don't know life changes man
and you get to a point in your life where it's like you know you're going to go into a fist fight you want everybody
and you know I've got all the training i've got all the coaches i got it all right but you need something else
there's something else you need you want to be able to look back and you know this man that's right there with me i
had my back from the beginning of my career to now you know it's a it's a
feeling that you can't explain as a fighter you know I just can't explain that feeling how did you know how did
you know him how did you know i met him through I met him through I was train I met him through Kamaru kamar was in
Florida way back when he first started fighting and I flew out to go train out there cuz you know they they were
training in an NFL facility where a lot of the NFL guys trained and I was still trying to play football at the time and
Rashad never forget he actually paid a guy Tonyo he paid Tony for two weeks of my
training which was like 1,500 bucks two grand and before right when I met him
man and he was like there's something he sees in me and and uh and and we built our own bond like like he's literally my
older brother i built such a bond with Rashad that you know when you build a bond with somebody you can call him at 10 11 12 1 in the morning and he answers
you know you know somebody that you don't got no money for gas here you go you know like uh it's a when I tell you
just to having him out here is a is a blessing man i just can't wait to get in that fight and he's going to be in the
he's obviously 100% he's my he's my head coach in the corner man i went uh it's I
don't know how to explain it it's a certain feeling I get having them here that makes me ball yeah it's a
brotherhood man it's good it's the loyalty you want those closest to you
you know going to battle in the foxhole with you yeah I'm with you that's it that's it man and uh for somebody that's
a Hall of Famer to take you on and just show you that love it uh it's
unescribable man cuz this game this game teaches you a lot and uh and you got to
be true to yourself that's one thing I learned about this game be true to yourself be true to your heart and uh
and let's go man you know so it's like I wanted somebody with me that's going to be there man for to thick and tin and
I'm glad Rashad uh and I I'm remember when I asked him he was like "Man I'm
I'm not going to say I've been waiting for you to ask me but uh you know he said that I knew this time was going to come i just never I never rushed it i
always wanted you to ask me." You know it's like and that that meant something to me he's like "I knew this was going
to come from day one when we started this thing but uh I never asked you never forced you i always want I always
knew you were going to come whenever it's your time." and a world of knowledge a world of experience that's
that's it's invaluable yeah man it's the the the week just this
preparation has been indescribable and and Muhammad I had a question your fight record is so interesting because your
first two fights were Kamura wins like you've both fights you subbed and with
Kamuras and then then but then you but then you had a TKO and then every other
That's so funny that's so funny decisions with TKO i'm I'm asking because did you fall in love with just
uh with like did you change the way you fought at all that's the only reason I'm asking is because after that it's been
all decisions and TKOs's did you just love knocking somebody out so much that you change something in your game no uh
I don't even know how to explain it man the fight game you know like it gets to a point where you got to take what you
can get and I feel like to a certain extent you do kind of get relaxed right in the game where you thinking you can
just strike with everybody and just knock everybody out because the first fight all I knew was the kamura my coach
taught me the kamura and then I just knew if I take a guy down I could get to that position no matter what on from
side control so the first two fights I just got there cuz I didn't know nothing else and I didn't want to get
hit so I was like you know it's a fight so I was like let me put him where I
know I could get him and I can just get that hand and as soon as I get it I can snag it and just go you know and then
just think about just take up I used to always think just take his just take his arm home with you so as soon as I get it I'm going right away so there is no stop
or tapping i'm ripping it right out so the first two was quick and then the third fight I had him in the same
position and I was like damn I don't want all my fights to do this so let me just punch this guy out so the third fight I was just punching him out like
I'm not going to put him in a kamura i'm going to just punch his lights out and then uh and then I did that and then I
was like you know and then I was like it's so crazy and I was like then I start going to these other fights and
you just flow through it man you just flow through these fights and and then you just you want to win of course but
you want to win in different fashions and then you get to this high level and you realize everybody here is good you
know and then everybody is good on this high level man and you got to bring something else to the table so it just
makes you really start to understand that like this fight game and then the knowledge of it too you know because I
feel like sometimes when you do less you do more interesting yeah and and I and that's an
interesting point too and also the the the higher level of competition you fight the harder those guys are going to
be to just put into a kamura position like like those guys are going to see it coming or they're going to know that
you've done it before so yeah that's it's actually good to have the variety i only asked this because certain guys who
were very solid on the ground said they just fell in love with knocking somebody out and it just it did change the way I
know Jimmy and I shouldn't have stood stood up with Chris Lidle why do you got to keep on my face exactly hey he knows
what he's doing but at the end of the day who wouldn't freaking fall in love when you knock somebody out and they go
unconscious and you don't feel it and and Matt you you attest to this when you get when you hit somebody clean it
almost feels like you didn't even hit them oh Frank Trigg I love it when I when it's a it when you see and it's
great when you make the eye contact too n that could Yes i seen the oomph when
the like Yes and it makes you then and then you It's almost like you plug you plug the the uh you plug a charger into
the socket it's like you don't even feel it and then and all of a sudden he's down and it's like "Oh my god." Then
then it's then in training you start realizing it's like why why punch hard as you can where in the fight you barely
touch the guy it's sometimes it makes you feel like why am I struggling to punch as hard as I can where in the
fight it's just a touch and not to mention takedowns get exhaust exhausting
you know what I mean they they definitely do especially a guy that's that that has hard hips and stuffs them
you know at a certain level so So yeah man but like my brother says too you
just got to be able to change it up you got to be able to change it up you got you you got to know when it's the time
to grab a leg you know and that's one thing I'm I'm just getting more in this fight game like you can't just get stuck
if we're both just in a striking mode you can't just get stuck there now it's like okay it's just 5050 i'm not giving
them nothing else to worry about we're just we're just striking but you know even if you don't get it he says snag
the leg if I just grab it just make him bounce around a little bit at 250 260
then if he takes it back he worked a little yeah raging Aya Quintto used to
lift up the leg just drop it go back to striking other times lift it finish it so it gets you that I What is he doing
you're exactly keep them guessing i mean perfect example with an unlimited gas
tank is Morav he's he's out he's got look at the reach on Shaun Ali but this is he's out striking him because he's so
worried about the taked down they're worried about being underneath you Mohamd because of your Kamores and when
they're worried about that the faints you're faking you go up now you got power so man they're worried about the
striking too so you know it's such it's such a it's such a fine art of just keeping them guessing you know what I
mean yeah and then just being with Rashad this weekend man it's uh it's just just get into the fight relax you
know it's like we're all so freaking tense of course but then it's like man when you it's almost like every time I
was tense is when I did the worst yeah yeah compared to when you're relaxed i
didn't find that out till later in my career buddy i used to get hyped up and kick backstage and look at it like
a street fight i used to be the ramp sprint to the ramp towards the end of my career I'm I'm
high-fiving i'm bopping i'm enjoying the process you know what I mean not having
to amp myself up the amp is there already he says you can flow and then you don't get tired you know like your
muscles everything gets tired when you're when you're when you're tight but when you're relaxed punches come out
everything flows you can see everything better you know it's like and so I've been it's a it's been on me i've been
challenging myself to relax to calm down to relax my muscles to just enjoy being
in this position man we're in the 1% of the world just enjoy doing the 1%
100 yes and just having Rashad around will lower your heart rate because he's
so zen-like now you know what I mean man so you know his his knowledge of the
game and all the coaches I've had in this world man are his knowledge is just
to where it's like this is a Hall of Fame champion that all the coaches he had didn't even accomplish what he did
so when you know that it's like you just know it's it's the instincts it's the feeling it's just when he was even
talking to me like we're we're world training he was like "Man with Chuck Liddell I was so freaking nervous." He was like he was like he he's just
telling me these stories of like you just got to believe in it and just throw it he says he says just throw it mo like
when you fought when you fought George yes you just threw it yes d I can cut
glass with my nipples right now cut glass i'm gonna come out we keep talking Muhammad i'm coming out of retirement i
just He just He just He just making me He just been showing me just because and then like even when I won the Ultimate Fighter I just threw the punch man i
didn't even think about it you just touched the guy what is the difference to because you played a very very high
level football i mean you got to you got to I think the Chargers practice squad so you're close to playing pro ball the
difference between fighting as as you're the only guy that this lands on and a
team sport like football what is the difference for you in the adrenaline and how it feels to win and how it feels to
lose man it's unescribable like we're trying like
like I'm like go back to what he was telling me like it's a drug you can't you can't manipulate you can't go buy
this you can't go buy drugs on the street that'll give you this high that you get from this it's a it's a
unescribable drug that you just can't explain i don't even know how to explain
it to you it's just a feeling in my in your heart when you're just walking back there as a man knowing you just went in
here and got this done man you went to war and you could just feed yourself
man like you could go home smile you know tell your mom you love her you know
you you accomplished it it's a it's an unescribable feeling that you you that
you for when you when you get that stoppage especially in that victory
it doesn't matter what happens tomorrow tonight you are in the cosmos
everything is right in the world you take you just take that deep breath it just like
man it's all was worth it the whole two months of training people think "Oh that guy's getting paid for 15 minutes to
fight." No man 15 minutes on top of two months ahead of you know what I mean man that's why like your life goes so fast
too as a fighter people don't even talk about it you're constantly training in training camps this that all of a sudden
it's fight then oh it's a birthday okay hey I have to miss it i'm trading the your life goes so fast in a in a aspect
that you can't explain man but uh I want to trade it for the world man and uh and
I just learned to just stop being I like cuz the these fights you know and it's like just the pressure the this the that
you got to do this you got to do that you got to be here i'm just I'm Muhammad Usman you know you know i I'm just
myself man and uh it's just been it's been it's been really good just being that and just being in my in my true
self and just learning how to just relax in in everything I'm doing and just go
out there and just have fun man cuz it's not fun when you're just tense and and
when when it's not fun you don't you don't do good things can't worry about that's out of your control you can
only control and uh hey man you really sound like you're in mentally a good spot right now
that that's I just I'm I'm just preparing like says take yourself closer to the fight every day instead of you
said a lot you show up on fight day like oh my god it's here no every day bring myself a little closer to the fight and
so then when you get there it's like you're here you know it's not you it's not like you you you you held you held
it in held it in held it in held it in now it's fight day it's like oh my gosh it's too much over over rush he said
"Every day you bring yourself a little bit closer to the fight a little bit closer to the fight and then when you get there you're there it's wisdom." And
when you uh you're talking about the high of it the like what a drug it is like there's nothing and I know a lot of
fighters that have these really high adrenaline things that they have to do to kind of to match that high it's a
very hard thing to match is there anything in your personal life that you do that matches that or or or are you do
you go the opposite way and you're completely calm in real life outside of this man I'm completely calm i mean if
you want to say match that is I mean if you're training sometimes and you just on your your today just you just
smashing it in the trading room you get a little adrenaline or you just or I put up 600 lb on a deadlift or something you
know you get that little rush but nothing matches it man i don't I don't know what anybody will tell you there's
no nothing that will match you winning in a fight nothing not no training no
nothing huh Matt uh hey man that's why guys stick around too long you know what I mean they like I need just one more
you know that's why I give a lot of credit guys like Robbie Lawler guys who leave on a win it's a huge win that I
mean he took no damage that knockout was I mean and he just left it's hard to lose on a win but but it's he But just
think about his career man it was when you like he's been fighting all every
generation of UFC like when you think about that man and and plus the damage
people don't talk about it man but like we take this is this is you're you're getting hit man you take so much damage
that you want to be able to be good with your kids and and have a life after this man i'll tell you Muhammad I just got
back from Columbia getting stem cells all through me so I'm with you on that
together i feel good yeah and this new generation man with all this new technology take advantage of it
hey Jimmy well you know we're we're sponsored by Fanatics now yes i want to
ask in history if there's anybody that you Muhammad could get an autograph from
who would it be uh dead or alive dead or alive anybody i
mean I would I of course Kobe Bryant oh that's Yeah that's a good one you
never met him i've never met Kobe Bryant i think my brother's probably met him once i've never met him man i mean of
course everybody wants to say Michael Jordan but he's you know he's a living legend but a guy just just in in his
essence man kobe Bryant the work ethic the essence of him because you know he
he just it was just different man it was different when guys talk about him gives you chills when they say how hard he
worked to be the best it just gives you chills to your core man yeah and how do you handle when you I'm sure you've
encountered whether it's athletes or other people that you've liked and kind of admired from afar um how do you
handle that are you really good at just kind of saying "Hey how are you?" or or does it affect you in any way yeah no I
handle it well man because you know I've played football my whole life up to this point of course since I fight and I've
been around a lot of people and my dad used to always tell me too is like act like you've been there before you know
because a lot of people that are that are in certain levels don't want to they don't want a fanboy they want somebody
they want somebody that that gives the same energy they give so so when you're in certain rooms with certain people and
and then all of a sudden you give the same energy they give like you know I was in a uh I was at the Bad Boys
premiere and they was DJ Cali all these guys was in there and you know they was like "Who who the heck is this guy?" You
know I was over there doing my thing and now somebody said "Oh he's a fighter." And then you see everybody's face change
when they know you're a fighter you know everybody's face changes
they're like "Oh he's a fighter huh oh everybody's face changes you know." And it's just that energy you give it's like
"Yeah we're not going to mess with him." And then you give the same energy you want you know i don't I want you to give
me I'll give I'm gonna give you the same energy you want to give me you know so you just treat everybody like that and
you're good i'm excited Muhammad yeah i'm I'm really looking forward to this fight uh you and uh Abdel Wahab uh on
Saturday have a great fight man it's good talking to you you seem like you're in an amazing place mentally and uh you
seem like you're really ready i'm ready man thank you guys yeah come back soon dude don't waste your time i will i will
take care we'll talk to you again have a great time all right i'll tell Rashad I said what's up please do take care
mohamad i will peace
hey nice to meet you hey nice to meet you guys too and you're
in uh uh let me get the pronunciation right i always screw up the pronunciation of this country is this
your first time in uh in uh Azarbaian uh yeah first time in Azarbaian i've
been to Bahrain with the IMAF team when I was uh just starting off in 2019
do you do anything when you're in a city or are you like a hotel person or do you go out and kind of like just live for
the week or do you stay in the hotel and do nothing uh no I don't stay in a hotel and do nothing i'm more so exploring the
city like I never had the opportunity as a kid to travel so fully taking
advantage of the lifestyle that the UFC creates in a sense of doing as much as I can and that my body lets me so for
example we was on the streets of Baku till 3:00 a.m last night um while my
team ate lovely food in front of me and I enjoyed the tea yeah that that kind of sucks uh that's I guess the disadvantage
to going out before the fight is you still have to worry about the weight and and you know getting to bed on time and
getting your sleep yeah um I'm sleeping later but waking up later as well so
it's kind of like balanced well what time is it there and what was the time difference from where you traveled from
um so it's 8 here in Baku in the evening and I believe it's about 6 hours
difference i could be completely wrong but I think it's 6 hours difference to the UK um so not too bad not in
comparison to you guys guys I think it's 11 hours for the USA well right now it's
12:30 p.m on the East Coast okay so yeah fair a fair a fair a fair
um P.M oh yeah so it's a fair difference it's like 8 8 and a half hours from you
right now about 8 hours yeah um and do are you a good adjuster like I I I I would need a month to adjust to to that
type of Are you or can you just flip your sleep very easily um I'm pretty good um when I come to Vegas uh I
struggle with the first night of sleep i'm up quite early and then I kind of just go about my day um but then when
I'm adjusted it takes maybe a day all right
hey listen this is this we get you know she'll get her sleep timmy I want to know because it's Melissa Mullen's first
time on here i want to know about your journey i want to know where you grew up
and when did you first get involved with martial arts yeah so I'm an British
girly with Hungarian and Irish parents um I actually had no idea what MMA was i
had no idea what the UFC was before I started in 2016 how old were you sorry
how old are you when I started in 2016 i'm 34 in July so where are we we're 25
nine years ago so that puts me at
maths i'm not great in math jimmy figured it out already uh 25ish yeah
well I'm going to say that's really late to the game right but I mean that to your credit that's amazing how did you
walk into a MMA um I used to break dance football then
break dance um and I kind of pushed myself out of break dancing through like
life situation i couldn't be in that community anymore um and I was staying at my friend's house who live around the
corner from a gym that I decided to just go along to um and I did a week trial
and I did it and I fell in love with it and honestly I look like the most oddest character I like my my first posing
photo with the team was me doing this in some long sleeved shirt and some typical looking UK PE shorts um
I really didn't lookart i'm sorry you didn't look the part no there's there's no look to it it's for everyone what did
you take to first the striking the wrestling the jiu-jitsu um
I would say all of it to be honest like literally I just I just managed all of it straight away um
I did a lot more ghee at the start uh because it was a very ghee based place where I started off but I've completely
got rid of the ghee now and I just do no ghee um burn the ghee pardon i said you
burnt the ghee you got rid of the ghee that's fine i did i do it's good for you in the beginning for sure especially I
don't care who it is because it hasn't that slows you down a lot and stuff but go ahead so now you're into the no
grappling i love no grappling noi grappling and wrestling are some of my favorite styles
on the mat um like probably I get most excited for those sessions um me and my
partner train in a way i don't know if you know Greg Saunders sounds familiar
he's like a guy that does constraints training he's got he's sort of controversial in the jiu-jitsu world um
there's like big arguments and stuff going against like should you train like this should you train like this um but
we train like that it's like game based play um oh is this the ecological stuff
oh okay i heard a lot about this this is very controversial yeah very controversial we actually go into his
camps do you guys do do the e ecological jiu-jitsu do they teach you the arm lock
and the re naked choke and they teach you the moves not really like so I run a kids academy
and we teach it to our kids yeah um and how it's set out is let's say we're
looking at an arm bar um we'll put the kids in an arm bar position however they
see an arm bar position we'll give them the basic idea of what it looks like put your leg one face one over the face one
over the body and have the arm straight and their goal is to make the bottom
person either tap or hold onto the arm bar for as long as they can while the bottom person's goal is to try and get
their elbow to the floor uh to get on top to escape the ar
i'm sorry this sounds like positional training to me it's I guess like that that's the controversial side of it like
a lot of people see it like that and they don't understand why you wouldn't add drilling into it but
it's like a hybrid a hybrid version of it like but rather than your coach saying you've
got to do it like this this this and this how you do it then it's realistic to every single opponent that you go in
and when you're then sparring you thought "Oh yeah i felt this position off this person this person and this
person and this is how it worked." Like interesting does it I have a question for you does it does it because a lot of
times in every with every position there's an escape for it does doing it like that um cover what the escapes
would be uh because like you know if you make a mistake in a position a lot of times any a high level fighter uh has an
escape for that position so is it possible that if the position is comfortable for you but you've made the
quote unquote mistake that enables the escape how does that affect it um so my
argument personally for that is there is everyone's own way of escaping the way I
do jiu-jitsu I like 90 kilo guys and I'm walking at 70 like most times on the mat at the
moment um they struggle to tap me you know like if I'm in a rear naked choke from the back it's 95% out of the time
I'm escaping back control uh and it's not because I know how to escape it it's the way that I've leared to do it
through playing sort of these games okay and oh sorry yeah you know you fought
before yeah and you did you did uh you had a first round uh TKO when you fought
but again each fight is different but what what is that feeling now going into this second fight after having had uh
you know your first time facing somebody that you've actually beaten before um I would say I'm a lot more humble in the
way that I'm going into this fight um the way I approached the last fight with Daria was
I was led to believe from previous coaches that I was going to dominate
that fight um I went in there and even like on official weigh-ins I shook her hand and I thought "I'm going to
you up because it was such a light and kind handshake and I was so naive to
think like I was going to win that fight no matter what." And although I did win it um she is one of the hardest hitting
females I've ever been hit by generally like even though Alex knocked me out in
my first UFC fight Daria has caused the most what I would say devastating power
on my face physically like it I felt her punches um so I'm going into this fight
with a lot more experience and knowledge of my striking but as you've seen her
last two fights haven't gone too well with the grappling side of things and my style of MMA now although it's I would
always say it's all around always allrounded my confidence in my grappling is
ridiculous so I'm going into there aware of her power
but I'm also going into there aware of my power and my confidence in what I can
achieve in both striking and grappling did you say Alice Ga knocked you out i
You won that fight by decision correct you Yeah she knocked me down like for I think down i'm sorry okay i thought you
said Yeah she dropped me i've never been dropped either ever i was going to ask do you feel your due uh your your past
history in break dancing helped you with helps you in jiu-jitsu yeah 100% like um I got asked this
question earlier in an earlier interview actually um I wouldn't say
break dancing has helped me in regards to my speed or my power or anything like that i'm all I used to be a very plotty
like just go for it fighter um my training's helped that but regards to break dancing like balancing on my head
my awareness of my body and where it is um escaping of weird positions like my
knees are like one way but my body's the other way 100% it's helped massively you know there's a very famous football
player named Lynn Swan he played in the 70s he played for the Pittsburgh Steelers and he was very very acrobatic
he was a wide receiver and he took ballet and one of the reasons that he was such a an incredibly uh agile guy he
attributed I believe to ballet so a lot of times dancing does help in fighting because of the movements and because of
the uh the agility it gives you and like you just said you kind of your body is able to do things that it might not
otherwise be able to do yeah massively i agree to that like I've
got a really strong neck i've got a really strong core um and my body's used
to moving in ways that a lot of people that start MMA doesn't
well Melissa look uh this is a really interesting card that you're on too um and it's the great part about this for
us in the States is it's on in the afternoon so you're going to have a lot of visibility i think it's on ABC uh or
on ESPN Plus but it's during the day so you're going to have a lot of eyes on you on on Saturday uh so good luck in
this fight have a great fight it was really good talking to you nice to meet you Melissa you too dude have a lovely
day guys and I hope you have a lovely uh rest of your day all right Melissa you as well take care take care bye
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Jimmy yes um I say the big difference is that she went from
uh popping and locking to locking and popping
don't leave me when I say stuff like that come on Jimmy come on give me credit i was going to say it to her but
I stopped i stopped because I think she'd be How do you feel about the uh I've never heard Just not ignore when I
say something i just I just pretend you understand that they pop and lock out i do i used to break that okay um how do
you feel about that approach to jiu-jitsu i I'm not familiar with it oh Jimmy it was so mind it numbed my mind
the more I hear about it the more moronic it sounds it is so stupid um I
don't know the guy who does it he's preaching it i know he came from Lloyd Irving lloyd Irving himself very good in
jiu-jitsu but he was very gimmicky he'd have seminars on how to grow your business
hey everybody take your credit card out right now at the same time who can do it he'd Hey they say it takes 10
years to be a black belt that's follow Super Lloyd to you he was very
gimmicky but he was very good in jiu-jitsu i was with him in the Mundiel's i first met Lloyd Irving um in
uh Brazil in uh 99 at the Monday's and I'm friendly with him i passed through his where was he in Washington DC or
something i I'd pass through there when I was doing seminars i'd stop by there i'd say hello to him you know and you
know I always got along with him but he knows how to sell some you know so this stuff and what she just explained
right there is positional training that we've been doing since the the like since the old days in the 90s like
you know what I mean you start in a certain position like she just But you know what's weird about this thing from what I'm hearing well don't what don't
she finds her own way out then what the hell you paying this guy for he's not teaching you jiu-jitsu or he is i asked
if they show you an arm lock or a rear naked choke yes and no and don't call it an arm lock the guy says from what I
heard because is it an arm lock or is it a do you do this with the joint the the the ligaments shut really
don't like Henzo said don't make it for the intellectuals he's very they're very
against drilling from what I hear they don't want you to drill you know and it's so funny because I've been watching
a little bit of that um BJ they have an ultimate fighter for jiu-jitsu uh produced I get it not what it's called
um UFC jiu-jitsu world um road to the title i'm not it up they're going
to come up with it right now i'm watching it but my family Oh I got it correct yeah did I get that correct
you did yeah ufc BJJ wrote to the title that's funny i did watch it last night
so Jimmy um so anyway they had a
conversation mike Musi I'm messing up his name the one the pizza kid very good jiu-jitsu kid there's a clip you could
see with them they had he had everybody from the team at his house and they're talking about because there's one kid
that's from that eco place and the kids trying to talk about it at one point he's like they're like you're against
drilling why wouldn't you want to drill the move you know and he's like well why get your reflexes good with I'm
paraphrasing it a little bit but yeah do it with the lights you can get your reflexes good with the light thing or what the are you dude it's
mindblowing it's almost like it's again from what I can take it's almost like
it's just you get out however you can get out um like you're gonna learn on your own you're going to feel
you i mean what are you talking about if if I roll with the again the guy who was teaching me Fabio has a black belt but
if I'm he he gently rolls with me like he'll grab and I know I know he's got me what's that he'll guide you the way out
he'll catch and release he'll catch Yeah yeah like but I know I'm caught and I'm recognizing oh I up but like it's
every time when I make when I do something a certain way he has the answer for it so it's almost like if I was just doing it on my own I wouldn't
get it i wouldn't figure out a way that he doesn't have the answer for like I would wind up doing something that put
him in a position to do something even worse because he knows what he's doing like I I've been doing this for 30 years
i I see I I see how to get you get good only one way people think they always
try to come up with some new way or they come up with some funky name put names on things and it gets weird don't
make it for the intellectuals keep it fun there's only so many ways to break the limbs and to secure
positions but they get weird man it gets it gets i don't know people want to try to reinvent stuff that's already
proven because it is yeah yeah within a year ago not even this not even how long's
this guy been here big Rich dude he came here with no skills big guy he just jumped in the IBJJF i'm giving him Well
I don't want to I haven't seen him but he's the guy you know he went through a division you know what I mean now that
guy came here with with not not a skill set in jiu-jitsu we know what works why are you trying to get all weird i don't
know it annoys the out of me i I had not heard of it but um I I just find
it interesting like knowing the mistakes I make um but what when something works
just because I do it correctly and if I'm doing it different but doing it different doesn't doesn't stop my
opponent from reacting like and they're going to react like like I'm making a mistake you understand what I'm saying
like he's going to have an answer for me doing something but having my leg in the wrong position or having my arm in the
wrong position the reason it works is because things are in the right position for it to work um it doesn't make sense
to me but again the way if it works it works i don't know listen if you let you want to do it do it i don't give a
but uh what was I going to say let's do some picks man this is This is our homeboy yeah let's do that we didn't do
last week uh let's do let's do only do two picks okay
that uh let me see the co-main is an interesting co-main too Matt physive
uh against uh Bahamandis that that's a really really I want to see what each of these guys has done now Jamal Hill
Khalil that's wild man we didn't talk about that well I mean but um how great
is that Muhammad what a nice guy i know i know i know rashad because Rashad's a
super nice guy you know he was just on my other podcast the Matt i know you know Matt Sarah Matt Sarah June Jimmy
Jamali let's all coming off the loss to Pereira
uh how about this i'm picking Curtis Blades third round stoppage
i think it's going to be the pound i'm smelling some elbows to the face uh yeah well I was thinking of him when
we were talking because about the skill level like almost like if you have a fighting guy like Curtis Blades to think
that you're just going to throw him down and put a camaro on a camora on him is is going to be very difficult to do
against a guy like that not to mention by the way Blades had some bad luck uh getting his fights canceled the fight
versus uh Rizon has been cancelled twice so he's itching to get a win on Saturday
let me see you know what I'm saying you hear what I'm Are you picking up what I'm just lying down for you yes I am
hold on Raphael look what I'm doing on the screen all right let me see phys hold on buddy i'm just looking at I'm
just looking up Phys who I I whose hand speed is still
How is he coming up three losses i mean God as good as good of a fighter as he is I'm saying um one was a TKO knee
injury uh and two in a row to Gai which is u
just so heavy-handed that honestly yeah he might even be I'm I'm not say more
they got different styles a little bit but he makes it dirty in there man he's like in a good way like he'll grab the
back of the head and uppercut him from Guam i'm gonna say Fiva is going to win this fight uh he's coming off
three straight losses i think Phys is going to beat uh Bahamandis i think How do I see it happening i think it's three
rounds i think they'll go to a decision but I'm going to take Rafael Faz and in the main I'm going to take Jamal Hill
they're both coming off losses uh Jamal is coming off two straight stoppages and
you know that's got to be in his head also uh even though it was a fourth round TKO Khalil lost to Alex as well in
a very very much more competitive fight but you know Jamal is probably in his own head i don't care what fighters say
there's no way they're not they're people so they got to have doubt um I
think Jamal much like Kamar Usman very very much needs this fight i'm going to take Jamal Hill I think he stops him in
the third round nazim over Nicholas Mada second round TKO okay
all right we each picked a couple right you know I'm I'm I'm just I'm re I'm
just controlling myself not to sing and I will not sing say how about this get ready fight fans because the UFC is
taking over Fanatics Fest with an allstar lineup that you will not want to miss you're not going to find a bigger
event specifically geared towards sports fans than this one and it's going to allow you to step into the octagon and
personally meet UFC icons like Alex Pereira Corey Sanhagen Diego Lopez and
Justin Gai and I'm not kidding when I tell you I wish I was going to be there this is an amazing lineup of fighters
fanatics Fest is bringing the energy and excitement of the UFC directly to fans like you this weekend Friday June 20th
through Sunday June the 22nd at the Java Center here in New York City tickets are on sale now grab yours today at
fanatics.com or on the Fanatics app well uh why don't we do some plugs ufc uh is
in Azerbaijene uh I hope I'm saying Azerbaijan uh this
the prelims are noon uh ESPN Plus this Saturday the main card 3:00 on ABC and
ESPN Plus and again UFC is not stupid when they know it's going to be on ABC
it's going to be the most exposure in the afternoon they are going to have a great great card that's an exciting card
and they will always put together a great card because it's just you know again it's promotion 101 it's smart so
check it this card out uh this is an incredibly exciting card um and to promote Matt I have Cleveland Friday
Saturday i'm heading out there and my special um Unconceivable on YouTube Jim
Norton Comedy is my page just broke 200,000 views after 5 days um it is
doing so much better than I thought it would um and people have been really
really kind in the comments and I'm not deleting bad comments people have been very very uh seem to enjoying it so
thank you guys very much please support that special and please watch that yeah unconceivable just think of me saying it
unconceivable don't you I just try to get it in their brain jimmy I'm really excited for you
with that thank you man um Matt Sarah channel on YouTube geeking out with Matt Sarah it's fun i just Yeah he's had her
shot up i either have Chris Leeben coming up um because I filmed that and also I just shot yesterday me and um
Almaine Sterling oh nice bandon Way Ching we uh King we watched Sinners
together so a movie reaction while we drank Funk Harbor it was fun that's nice
that's a nice That's a nice morning at 11:00 a.m drinking rum watching Vampires uh I'll talk to you over the weekend
okay pal take care Matt good all right goodbye everybody
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