Join UFC coach, analyst and former TUF contestant Din Thomas and former light heavyweight champion and TUF 2 winner ‘Suga’ …
foreign [Music] [Music] Thomas in episode 2 of tough 31 is a wrap but we got a great show planned for you the winner of this week’s fight Cody Gibson will be joining us and from Team McGregor coach Dr Julian dowby all the way from the black Forge Inn in Dublin iron and joins us as well and of course iron Michael Chandler chimes in to share his thoughts on this week’s episode but right now joining me in studio taking time away from his training camp to kick it with me the winner of tough season 15 Mr Michael quiesa Mike you did A Live season of tough are you watching these guys thinking I did A Live season the tough you know I ran into a couple of the kids at the pi during while they were filming this this season and they’re like how long was your season of tough and I said 13 weeks and they’re like and John Annex very particular if you ever call my season of The Ultimate Fighter season 15 he will correct you and he will say it’s tough live it’s not tough 15. he always and he’s even corrected me at times but look this last season was great Cody Gibson got a great win this you can see that now that the competition’s starting to kind of unravel itself guys we’re starting to talk a little Trash fights are starting to get pretty exciting episode two was great now how long was it for you before you got your your feet underneath you in the house to where you was comfortable talking trash and feeling at home you know I feel like uh just once I think once you once the fighting starts I think that that’s when you start to feel comfortable and we had to fight to get in the house we were we were a group of 32 that had to fight to get in so like once I once I had won my fight and I knew all right I’m going to this house I’m gonna be here for 13 weeks I really started to settle in I wasn’t much of a trash talker and really not really anybody on my season really talked too much trash everybody was pretty laser focused on the task at hand so but it was once you once you get that first fight under your belt I feel like that’s when you really start to kind of feel feel like yourself well these guys in this season have the privilege of having Conor McGregor hanging out and hanging around and he was actually at the house we have some unseen footage of this how much Amanda [Laughter] how’s that looking brother sleeps cool now I just gotta line you up get you bladed up yeah cool all it was yeah check this out Connor Logan what’s this this is my little brother the one I was telling you about that’s my youngest little brother that’s 19 that’s McDonald’s from Mexico oh yeah that’s what’s up against the Mexican it’s a fight oh yeah thank you very much yeah this is the other one Junior this is Junior this is the middle brother out of the three of us he has the best fight IQ out of the three of us can you get me a pair of cowboy boots can you oh yeah oh yeah yeah my family’s from Jalisco it’s actually where tequila is we’re all tequila in the world come together yeah yeah and that’s my girl right there that’s my girl today oh yeah yes sir one thing about Connor I got to get Miss props man when he is engaged in conversation with somebody I mean he made Manny Gutierrez feel like he was the only person in the world right there I mean he look at my picture and he was really engaging that you ever see somebody like hey look at my picture whatever yeah you know what I mean I mean what a blessing to have a guy like Conor McGregor being around and being engaged and you know just kind of paying attention to you that had to be special for these guys oh man it’s it’s it’s it’s unexpected you know and I’m not saying that in in a way to kind of take a jab at him it’s just you don’t expect a guy like Connor it’s got so much going on in his life to apply himself so much to these guys and for him to really like you said like he’s looking at that picture he’s asking questions he’s really taking the time to get to know these guys it’s got to be really special for him week two with the ultimate fighter and team McGregor took a took agent L that means team Chandler has a perfect 2-0 record now let’s welcome in coach iron Michael Chandler fresh off of a second win second week win streak now how concerned were you going up against Conor’s number one guy Manny Gutierrez man I uh I was man I when I saw Mondo the first time I thought man that dude’s got some fire about him um I had a couple little interactions where I wasn’t necessarily talking to him but I saw the way he carried himself the way he carried himself he’s got a wrestling background because you got to remember too we looked at 20 guys before the show we looked at the records we did all of our research and mondo was a guy that I have my my eye on and thought that guy’s in the running to be one of the top bantamweights and uh so obviously with Cody going to fight him um I knew it could have gone either way and to be honest with you you know leading up to that Cody wasn’t they didn’t show a lot of it but Cody was struggling that first that first weight cut that first couple days before that that fight I was really worried about where Cody’s head was at um but he went out there made weight like a professional with a smile on his face and then went out there and obviously got a nice big old TKO win in that first round and Michael you know you’re coaching a fighter in Cody Gibson it’s a well established veteran and he talked about seeing him lack the confidence that he needed in that fight how do you get through to a guy that’s already established and set in his ways to give him the confidence to have the performance that he had against mando man it’s it’s a great question because I truly believe not to toot my horn and my coaching staff swarm but I do believe that it was what we did outside of just the X’s and O’s of training that got Cody to where he needed to be to not just make the weight which was a tough way cut but then to go out there and just fight with so much Poise man you know they didn’t really show the moment too well that Cody and I had after him and he walked over to me looked me right in the eyes and just said thank you so much you made me believe in myself when I couldn’t and that was the gr that was honestly maybe the greatest moment of the entire season because I think we’re all a little bit worried you know but we LED with love the biggest thing is leading with love I know it sounds cliche but the punches the kicks the knees and the elbows that’s all going to take care of itself if you can go out there with a full heart with a full cup you’re gonna go out there and you’re gonna compete to the best of your abilities I had a phenomenal coaching staff we got him right to where he needed and he went out there and got the win he got his hand raised but we were all there loving on him leading up to that moment hey Mike we’re gonna have to start calling Connor no show this man is not showing up to the weigh-ins what did you make of him not showing up to the weigh-ins for the second week in a row I it’s tough man you know uh you know people people would always kind of people always said even management my wife also like hey why do you always wear the Jersey why are you always wearing the Jersey why don’t you dress up like Connor or do this it’s like what you do subconsciously is so much deeper than what you say show them don’t just tell them right so me showing up me always wearing the Jersey yeah it’s got my name on it but that is a is a a shirt but it’s also a representation of our time together our belief in each other and if you can’t just show up how are you gonna expect your guys to go out there and perform that was my take um I just wanted to be there with those guys I wanted to be there in the trenches with them training with them be there for them not just physically but mentally and spiritually and I was gonna be there at every single one I was gonna be at every single practice I was gonna show up first I was gonna leave late I was going to show them that I was willing to put in the work as a coach to show them that I’m here not just because my name versus Team McGregor or my name on the the poster my name on The Jersey it’s about them it’s about them and me getting the veterans realizing that this was the best second chance that they ever could have asked for 12 weeks straight on ESPN with a UFC contract on the line it’s it’s an opportunity of a lifetime but without a great coach how are they going to get there you know and that’s that’s what I took I took it very much to heart and uh I had to show up man but I think I need you coaching me I can be perfect I need him coaching me all right let’s take a question from one of the fans and this one is from Timmy two shoot or Timmy shoes mm and they want to know where do you rank McGregor in terms of how tough the fight is compared to other opponents that you’ve had man I think uh Conor brings a lot of intangibles that most people never have to deal with this will by be by Far and Away the biggest fight that I’ve ever had uh the biggest spectacle I’ve ever had the most amount of media the most amount of um different obligations that I’m going to have not to mention the fact that I want to go out there and beat the guy and there’s and there’s a lot of people out there who think they’ve written him off there’s a lot of people who think I should go steamroll him there’s a lot of people that think that I should be in the driver’s seat the entire time but we’re talking about mixed martial arts and four ounce gloves and you’re talking about a guy he talks the talk uh but I think he does walk to Walk in a lot of ways yeah we see him out there doing his thing we see him out there doing things outside of just training but when when they’re going when the going gets tough when the fight happens when the training camp happens and it’s time for him to lock down there’s not a there’s not a more dangerous guy out there than Connor when he’s focused and he’s motivated and he’s ready because I think he’s bought into he’s he’s sold everybody this dream that is so so big that he is the notorious Conor McGregor and he has to go out there and perform and a lot of times he does so we’ll see how it happens so there’s a lot of pressure um so I think it’s honestly the toughest fight in my career because of that do I think he’s the most skilled guy that I’ve ever fought probably not but the Mystique of notorious Conor McGregor that’s what we all have to be fighting and that’s who he needs to be when he steps inside the octagon and you know while we’re on the subject of Conor McGregor you know I gotta ask you coaching The Ultimate Fighter presents a very unique opportunity for you as a competitor because you have the opportunity to acquire small wins outside of the big fight that’s that’s it going to come in due time with back-to-back wins does that give you a little extra confidence know that you’re kind of outgunning him in every possible way outside of the fight that’s going to happen at some time at some point this year it does it’s a great question because you know I remember when we did the announcement it’s like hey mine and Connor’s fight might be months from now could be a year from now but the fight itself Starts Now I wanted to go on to The Ultimate Fighter as soon as my feet hit the ground on the Las Vegas desert that every single moment I wanted to beat Connor and that was obviously my number one goal and then my goal shifted once I met my team fell in love with my team fell in love with their stories and I wanted the best for them but as a byproduct now we are 2-0 and every single time my guy gets a hand raise and he’s wearing a team Chandler Jersey of course that’s another win for me and uh you know I just wanted to go out there and prove that I was better than Conor in every sense of the word but so far I think you guys have seen he really did show up in a lot of those practices he’s there he’s vocal you hear his guys talking at the house they they got a lot of confidence from being around Conor there’s a special aura about him there’s a special confidence about him so he brings a lot of strengths that maybe I don’t bring because I’m not that Mega Superstar but I wasn’t in the trenches hard-nosed coach for these guys and I and I led with love so it was an interesting microcosm of mixed martial arts there for those x amount of weeks that we were there all all 12 of these episodes but it’s been nice now team Chandler up 2-0 and uh two two uh pretty quick finishes two dominant Victory so uh I’m excited to see how the rest of the show goes for you guys now Mike you know I love you I appreciate you you came on the dean Diaries but you took me to your little spot in Florida I know you got a bigger spot in Nashville did you not take me to the house in Nashville because you thought I was going to steal something no they just did this the UFC cribs type of thing uh which was which was really cool no they came out and uh did a cool little thing but hey we want to give you give a tour of the house so we did but no man you are welcome out here in Nashville whenever you want let’s do another Dean Diaries Nashville style we’ll check out the house we’ll check out my gym some strength and conditioning maybe we’ll cook some steaks and I know you ain’t gonna steal nothing man that’s you’re Dean Thomas nah I stole your can opener at the house in Florida I’m sorry dude did you steal the wine opener too well Mike man we appreciate you I can’t wait to talk to you again next week and every other week after that looking forward to it my man have a good rest of your day take it easy Michael appreciate you guys thank you there he was the great Michael Chandler so Mike we were talking about the relationships between coaches and athletes I mean we saw the relationship between Mike and and and Cody yeah in this in this episode you had a pretty unique relationship with Uriah Faber on in your season yeah you know and it was just an interesting circumstance obviously I was going through a lot of turmoil with everything going on with my family with my dad passing away and and Faber was a guy that showed a tremendous amount of compassion not only him but also Danny Castillo like I will always say Danny Castillo is like he’s like a brother to me um and when you’re when you’re in that environment and you’re you start to battle your own demons and you start to kind of have to deal with the things that are going to get under your skin the things that are going to make you sad the things that are going to get you emotional and to have a coach you can lean on that cares and shows that they care like when Michael Chandler’s saying you know I’m leading with love that’s such a gift for guys like Cody Gibson when he’s having these moments where he’s lacking confidence or starting to miss his family to have somebody that you can tell truly cares it really helps it not only motivate you but it keeps you keeps you in the competition especially if you’re a guy you know you’re in the winning side of the bracket and you’re still moving on to the semis trying to push for the finals like to have a coach that truly cares could be the Difference Maker in you winning and losing well I’ll tell you what I mean I think that’s one of the reasons why these guys stay in the sport for so long because they have that type of love that they give out and it comes back to them but here’s a message from Uriah right after that it was a recent message for him what’s up guys Uriah here I want to talk about Mike yes or what an honor it was to have him as as one of my fighters on The Ultimate Fighter and the things that stand out to me about Mike was first and foremost his attitude I mean talk about a passionate guy a guy that I think believes in himself but I started to believe in himself more and more as he was putting in the work you know I think he’s someone that has acquired uh the self-belief and always had the discipline and the and the skill set but keeps getting better so I’m proud to have him as somebody that that was you know part of my season The Ultimate Fighter and and somebody that has gone on to make a long healthy career and um you know enjoy watching it I’m not hearing that like instinctively what are your first thoughts that come to mind it just it brings me it’s like a flashback you know it just it takes me back to a time when when he’s when he’s hit the nail on the head like maybe I was doing all the right things but I just lacked the confidence but that was the first time I had been exposed you know I’m from a small gym from a small stadium we’ve grown over time but at that point in time in 2012 we’re a small team this is my first time getting exposed to Big coaches big coaching staff and and for him to say as the season was progressing like you need to believe in yourself like you have what it takes to take this thing all the way like you are the Dark Horse you might not be the number one pick but we really think you could take this thing as far as you believe you can so once he started to instill that belief in me then then I started to kind of exhibit it and it really was a Difference Maker for me and how I performed in that competition now obviously having a good coach like that who can instill that type of wisdom into you it doesn’t just happen overnight at what point in the season did it really hit you affect you those messages that he was trying to get to you it’s funny you say that I’ll tell you exactly when that time came there was a certain practice where I got my butt kicked so bad particularly by Ally Quints he was socking me up and sparring I had like I had a meltdown like I started to cry I really my emotions started to kind of you know I’m going through a lot of stuff not only with me not believing in myself but just other things going on with my family started to kind of boil to the top and he pulled me aside it took me to the bathroom and sat me down and just gave me this speech that was just like dude you have what it takes you just don’t believe in yourself like what I saw you know why you just got your butt kicked because you didn’t believe you could do any better you know so from that point going forward I I never had a moment like that in training again so it was it was for him to show belief and Care look you in the eyes when he says it and show that he really cares it man it it really was a game changer for me Chandler Cody Gibson Cody what’s happening man how are you doing tonight doing good Dan uh just wrapping up uh last week of school so still in school but more important things you fought the number one guy on their team now going into this fight what advantages did you think you had over their number one guy uh I mean obviously like I always have a usually I have a size advantage and a reach Advantage um and you know Mondo is a really dangerous Grappler he’s got a really good squeeze on his Guillotines and stuff like that so I just knew if I could keep the fight standing uh and defend his takedowns um that I thought pretty pretty good about uh what my my odds of winning were in the in the stand-up department so uh that was kind of my game plan going in you know and Cody you and I are the same age you’re 35 years old you’re an established vet and you’re going into this season of The Ultimate Fighter what are the biggest takeaways that you got from Michael Chandler and his coaches and of all the coaches that he had on his staff which one did you sync up with the most and honestly I went into the show not really having uh you know very many expectations as far as uh the coaches went and the team aspect of the show um I knew it was a relatively short amount of time that we were together um and I just didn’t really have I didn’t really think anything of it as far as like you know that I was going to learn a lot or you know I did I mean I was open-minded but I just I just kind of felt like we were going to be in in a Fast Forward Motion the entire time getting ready for fights and things like that but um Chandler and his entire coaching staff they really went above and beyond for us uh I connected with really all the coaches in different ways um Chandler for me you know gave me a lot of confidence you know when you got a guy like Michael Chandler who seemingly you know believed in me so much um you know and I’ve always struggled with confidence um and so having a guy like that just in your ear constantly um kind of reiterating to you like hey you deserve to be here you deserve to win this thing you’re good enough to win this thing um all that kind of stuff um yeah I think you know Chandler and me definitely had a connection but really all the coaches were were phenomenal uh Jason strouts a renaissance man uh a maestro on the mitts uh Bader was awesome uh coach Drysdale getting to learn from him and his vast you know knowledge and Jiu Jitsu uh and as it applies to MMA um so in different ways I really you know connected with all the coaches and I couldn’t have been happier with where I landed now coach you had a very special moment in this episode in which you were talking to coach Chandler about adoption what did it mean to you and what was that like to be able to open up to him about that yeah I think that was just kind of the start of our relationship you know and connecting um on something besides just mixed martial arts you know um obviously in different ways he he’s he adopted two boys and I was a boy who got adopted uh and so uh that was just kind of an initial kind of connection we made um and it was just cool to meet um not only um myself but another guy in the House Trevor was also adopted and then a bunch of the production crew I don’t know how I kept getting brought up but I just kept meeting people that had been adopted and that’s not something in day-to-day life you usually bring up in conversation um so it was just kind of an interesting kind of dynamic to things but uh definitely kind of helped spark the connection that me and uh coach Chandler had you know let’s go back in time to your UFC debut Cody you had a very competitive fight with right now the bantamweight King of the UFC the bantamweight king of the world and Al Jermaine Sterling given that that was such a competitive fight did you find some way to apply that as an advantage for yourself competing against these up and comers on The Ultimate Fighter for me it just kind of like I tell myself that uh no like anytime I’m fighting anybody like I’ve already fought the champion I fought multiple title Challengers I fought multiple guys that have been in the top 10 uh and so for me like looking at the prospects um even though they were dangerous young guys um and all that stuff and I have a lot of respect for them and everything like that but um you know it doesn’t really scare me to fight some of these up-and-comers because I’ve already been in there with the best guys in my division or at least a lot of them so um it just kind of helps me gives me something else to remind myself of when I start having self-doubt um that I’ve been in there with some some real killers some real beasts uh and so I I need to take a deep breath sometimes and realize that uh you know I’ve I’ve swam in the water with some some pretty nasty sharks so um I think I’ll be okay well Cody we appreciate your time man thank you for coming on looking forward to seeing how it works out for you and the rest of the season and uh I’m certainly enjoying it so far yeah best of luck my man thank you guys I appreciate it take care that was Cody Gibson picking up his first win on tough but now let’s take a look at somebody else picking up their first win on tough in the other locker room Michael Kiesza undefeated at 7-0 and is a former accomplished High School wrestler bring those legs together it looks good he’s solid that winner by tap out and moving into the house kiesa did you stay did you live in like when you shot that did you live in a house or did you live under a bridge and they just brought you into fight so the funny thing is like when I left for The Ultimate Fighter like I lived I was living with one of my best friends Gary and I packed up all my stuff and put in a storage unit and like so when I came on the show I was like yeah I don’t have any place to live if I don’t win this fight to get in the house so it looks like so they’re like kind of said like oh he’s homeless like no no I I’m I’m not homeless like I just recently like you know took a chance on myself but it’s funny I actually had you know I’m not a big like I’m big on manifestation but I don’t really have a lot of dreams about the results of my fights and that particular fight when I was cooped up at The Palace Station I actually dreamed that that fight was gonna happen the way it did and it panned out exactly how it happened in my dream it was a very surreal thing but yeah I looked the part of being a homeless person and I guess I kind of played the part too so what was the best part about initial like when you first initially got the call you were on the show you’re like okay now I’m not I got a place to live for I mean your season was a lot of 13 weeks you man I got a place to live for 13 weeks like what was the best part of the show for you well you know when I got the initial call that I made it on tough it was you it was not you would think that I would be so ecstatic like this is something I dreamed about since I was in high school I I told my high school girlfriend someday I’m going to be on this reality so we were watching season two when Rashad won and so this is a dream that I’ve been working towards for so long but with everything going on with my family I wasn’t as happy as you think I was but you know my family pushed me into it I was I almost withdrew and they’re like you have to go through with this so thank God my family made me do that but you know the best part about being on The Ultimate Fighter was for us we didn’t really have any characters like you know in in episode two we kind of saw a little bit you know it was uh I’m pretty sure it was a Gutierrez or one not not good chairs one of the guys was getting a little chippy oh yeah yeah he’s talking a little bit to Roosevelt Roberts yeah we didn’t really have characters like that on my season so the best part about it was it was 16 guys in one house that were all like-minded like we were all there to win no one was talking crap to each other it was just everybody was very laser focused and it was good for me and good for everybody because it kept you sharp it’s like I’m waiting for one person to kind of start acting like Juni Browning or I’m waiting I’m waiting for a Kaplan moment I’m waiting to see who who’s the character I want to know who are the characters on wonder who the fighters are and I learned early on everybody was there to fight so that was one of the best parts about it was being in a house with 15 like-minded people and one of them happened to be my best friend Sam Cecilia that’s awesome yeah and obviously getting in the good training yeah so let’s take a look at some of the training that these guys did on team McGregor we’re here in the fight the house again and remember McGregor fast Walker we’ve been the what bikes out put the last two shorts Sprints so when let’s go try and get the max power that’s where the power will tell you what your now going for the legs as well look if you think about there’s everything you can do right is the upper body sword is it well now what I bounce on the bike is there is the legs or no but I belongs on the skier there’s always something to be done yeah are you rest in your jab okay what about your kicks what about your knees what about your car there’s always something to be do or something to do find it and do it I’m ready to go let’s assuming it’s tan now so hang on we all set up yeah three two one go go go come on come on come on 15. second round do you know we’re really good on these days because they just got that little kick at the start that’s it [Music] Red Zone okay someone said just use your legs like it’s all steel so it won’t break so I’ll just try and break it and get that just get that Max up yeah yeah lungs everywhere about two minutes yeah yeah full recovery okay whatever that means three three two one one time he just just under a thousand miles yeah it was a little short there it’s going to get slower now people are asking to see as well yeah explosive power walk so it’s a great uh a great workout [Applause] so there’s another team camaraderie team buildings let’s go oh it’s not time consumption I didn’t have to travel to the gym again the rest day announced tomorrow things are going really well in the county and just the energy is in our in our favor and things are going well okay so that was a clip of Conor McGregor training with his guys on the watt bike now when I see that clip what stands out to me is how magnetizing of a figure Conor McGregor is like when he speaks there isn’t an eyeball in the room that is not attached to his every word now what stands out to you you know it’s it’s how it’s How how accessible he’s making himself to his athletes like this is Conor McGregor it’d be easy for him to kind of come in there and coach and maybe stand there with the clipboard and just kind of order his coaching staff to get out there and spar with the guys and get out and instruct and get out and kind of show them the way but Conor is taking it upon himself to like do the workouts with him I’m gonna spar with you guys I’m gonna show you I’m gonna give you a glimpse into my strength conditioning routine I’m going to give you all that I have to offer it shows that he’s really applying himself while he might not have shown up to Wayans you know he still is he still is showing that he’s very much invested in the show and he and for him this is a guy that I don’t think he really goes out of his way to talk to a lot of people but I I think that for him these these kids are so blessed because they grew up on Conor McGregor and he’s making himself so tangible he’s applying himself to this competition and for them it’s a Once in a Lifetime experience they’ll never forget and I mean not for nothing think about this I mean we know Connor be acting Reckless he’d be doing some reckless things but at the end of the day he was dropping gems on them to talk about you know if your jab isn’t working work on your right hand if your arms aren’t working work on your legs I mean these are things that that they need to hear like because not a lot of people talk about this paper he even offered insight to Mando Mando had asked him like Hey you know what’s going through your mind when you’re in the locker room he’s not only is he offering him the the things he does when it comes to the X’s and O’s and the skills but he’s also giving them insight into his mind and Conor has shown since he bursts on the scene in 2013 in the UFC he’s got a brilliant mind for the sport I mean outside of all the hoopla this is a guy that’s a tremendous competitor and he’s got a tremendous mind for the sport and so for him to just share all of this with these young kids they can only grow from it I know one thing though Connor team Connor team Chandler don’t none of them want no smoke with us on the bike absolutely you really don’t want to smoke with me on the bike I’m gonna tell you that right now you really don’t want to smoke with me because you tried earlier and we’re gonna cut to that clip right now in three two one [Music] how much time [Music] I Ed I listen it was by the smallest of margins did I sneak by with that one man that was close that was close you still got it no no I didn’t I didn’t really got it I was you level down a little bit so I can keep up a little bit but you know what listen it was a lot of fun and I like you know what I’m saying I like I like training I think I think for these young guys being in the house with Connor it is such a blessing to be able to get that wisdom from him for sure absolutely you know in going back to what I was saying before about like having characters in the House characters and Fighters there’s a there’s only two types of people that walk on The Ultimate Fighter either a fighter or you’re there to be a character you’re there to be a reality show character if you’re a character you’re robbing yourself of the gift you you have this opportunity to learn from the best fighters in the sport like when they put coaches on The Ultimate Fighter they give you Champions they give you pound for pound grates you rob yourself of the gift if you’re there to be a character so I feel like Connor he’s got a team of of guys that are Fighters and they’re going to soak all this knowledge up and it’s going to be impressive to see I’m interested to see how this transpires now speaking of bikes I know you won a bike on your season at the Ultimate Party you went to Harley-Davidson what actually happened to the bike where is it I it’s sitting in my driveway I still have it so for a lot of people don’t know this I grew up in a motorcycle racing family my grandpa who’s my all-time hero was he’s he’s in the Hall of Fame for flat track racing he’s he’s he’s an evil Knievel’s biographies like I’m from a motorcycle racing family so when I won the Harley I was like oh this is here to stay he’s like I love this thing and I know a lot of other people have sold their bikes but for me like it was a no-brainer I’m keeping this thing I actually like I just was riding it the other day so and I could send you pictures of it man the old the old I call it uh the black wolf you know I love that well we were supposed to I was supposed to get my motorcycle license to do an episode of Dana White looking for a fight when we went to Sturgis and I took my test I did the written part I got a hundred I aced the written part and then I did the writing part the first turn I dropped that bike and hit every cone on the lot he said you’re done so I never did get my motorcycle license so if you watch that episode of Dana White looking for a fight I wrote on the back of Dana’s bike the whole episode I’m gonna have to go back and watch the thing because that’s the sight to be seen just you just kind of hugged up on him there I love it I love it man that’s awesome time to take you across the Atlantic all the way to the black Forge in in Dublin Ireland looking up with one of the coaches from Team McGregor Dr Julian dalby welcome to after tough how you doing I’m doing great thank you so you started McGregor fest with Conor McGregor can you explain to me a little bit about what that program is and how it’s different from other fitness programs well I’m sure anybody that’s ever seen uh Fighters has noticed they always have great physiques one of the reasons for this is fighting it demands all the disciplines you’ve got to have the explosive strength you gotta have power and you’ve got to have the endurance To Go the Distance uh with the McGregor fast training program we have Zone base we divide into three different zones a Red Zone an orange Zone and a green zone and we specifically Target each of these aspects so it’s a it’s a performance program it can be done by anybody be it an advanced fighter or a complete beginner and it was developed between myself Conor McGregor and some of the world’s leading exercise physiologists [Music] reality show alongside one of the biggest names in MMA yeah well in the previous reincarnation I worked as a an ER doctor and when I first met Conor I was doing the the ringside doctor for the for the injuries but these days I work as a coach full-time with Connor I’ve been with them since 2016. and it’s always great working with Connor he’s just um so enthusiastic his passion for it is is so real and it’s just infectious everybody that’s around them can’t help getting caught up in this and it doesn’t matter if it’s team McGregor team Chandler he just gets everybody’s so enthusiastic that it’s just like go go go now I know you didn’t have a tremendous amount of time working with these guys but if any what were any of the protocols or philosophies that you were able to implement from McGregor fast on to Connor’s team yeah well the guys already and these athletes they’re already very fit and we had a limited time but we were still able to implement some of the principles things like periodizing the training some of the recovery techniques because the higher the level the athletes the more Elite they are the more important recovery becomes and certainly these guys have a very heavy schedule ahead of them so that recovery is vital time can you tell me what makes him unique as an individual yeah I mean Connor’s like nobody I’ve ever worked with before I mean he’s just um his expectations are completely unrealistic when people tell them that you can’t do this you can’t be a businessman you haven’t gone to college you can’t be a movie star you’re not a trained actor he just like listens away and then says yeah yeah okay let’s go do it so he just uh doesn’t know limitations and he just does his own thing that’s excellent so Dr dowby I know that you have an extensive resume along with your deadlifting prowess and I wanted to challenge you to a deadlifting competition me versus you we can do it at a neutral place and we’ll see who’s the better dead lifter I’m up first I’m always up for a challenge I think we should put some money on it though all right tell Connor let me borrow 20 and we can go we can go up that route no I think Conor’s good for 20. 20 mil is that no twenty dollars well Dr W I appreciate your time thank you for coming on cheers thank you very much thank you and slaunchy thank you speaking of alcohol here’s a flashback of a familiar face excited about the free liquor inside the tough house oh look at this biceps I really feel blessed especially for me because I’m kind of homeless right now so I got a place to live for the next three months rent free and it happens to be a million dollar mansion so I’m uh pretty ecstatic about that if I say so myself there is no way that you had trained before your day I’ll tell you they was like Hey you get to live in this house all you got to do is beat people up you was like I’ll take it oh man I like I’m like the caddy from uh from Happy Gilmore oh man so so what was the listening for you about living in the tough house you know I kind of spoke to what what the best thing was about living in the tough house and it was the the getting to be around 15 like-minded individuals like I was there to fight I was there to to win the show I didn’t leave my family I didn’t leave my dad to come here and and go home empty-handed I came there to win a UFC contract I came there to go home with a glass plaque and and I was just like everybody else that was there so that was good but I think the best thing for me about the whole ultimate fighter experience in general was I realized that there was more to this opportunity than just fighting in the UFC like getting to be in front of cameras for 13 weeks and feeling more comfortable than I thought I would really got my my mind turning on like I could do other things other than just fight like I I really don’t think even if I had made it in the UFC outside of The Ultimate Fighter I don’t think I’d be here as an analyst if I didn’t get exposed to being in front of cameras doing all these interviews and having to be exposed to that for three months it was like a crash course in in how to handle cameras and how to handle the spotlight and everything that comes with being a UFC fighter so I think the best thing that I got from that whole experience was it really opened my my mind to to all these other other opportunities that have come along the way throughout my UFC Journey I’ll tell you what for me it was my son was six my son was six weeks old when I had him and I was in that house and for me it was not having to hear crying and screaming and that was from the mother so but this episode had a lot of good moments had a lot of good gems in it and one of my favorite moments in this entire episode was uh was this one here Conor McGregor you know getting her hair cuts and Conor McGregor hanging out with the with the crew yeah you know and could you imagine what it’s like to be Mando I mean this guy’s cutting weight he said he’s cutting weight and then he’s going into cutting the hair I mean that’s got to be stressful I mean could you imagine cutting Conor McGregor’s hair on national TV while you’re cutting weight like I know how I am cutting weight I couldn’t imagine handling some shears and having to cut the hairs of the you know the most prolific fighter in Combat Sports right now that would be very stressful and now we have the best Trash Talk of the week and it never gets any better than it is the best Trash Talk of the week we have it right here like feel it all you want I ain’t gonna lie to you oh you’re gonna lie so okay it’s all good you don’t got it wrong like you bro now I’d rather you stop talking to me you talking to me I ain’t talking to you you coming over here I’m chilling cause you I cause you staring at my eyes bro you in my line of stuff we close this in the house bro chill out don’t get like that bro I’m letting you know my God all right bro all right whatever you say bro you know bro I get through my fight and we’ll fight yeah bro it’s all good we could do it right now nah I ain’t doing that in the house all right then I see how that goes I didn’t want to hear that in your voice you can hear it all you want that’s all I want to hear I just want to hit it I just want to hear you say that if you would say that to me homie we could get it that’s the difference between me and you and we from supposed to be from the same place well you ain’t from where I’m from I ain’t gonna lie I wanted to slap his ass yeah I think so I know Landon he from around the way you know he’s from South Florida I know him I didn’t know he had that in him to like you know to kind of go at somebody like that I mean he obviously didn’t want to fight but uh you know he kind of wanted to go he took it like a man you know the house will bring out different sides to people that you never knew like bring out a side of somebody that you didn’t know they had and as a fan you can only hope cross your fingers then Landon wins his next fight cause there’s nothing that makes for better TV when it comes to The Ultimate Fighter when two guys that are getting shipping have bad blood in the house or nothing makes for a better fight on a reality show and the two guys that don’t like each other get the chance to fight so I can only hope Landon wins his fight whenever that does come because I would love to see him and Roosevelt Roberts settle the score inside the Octagon well I’ll tell you one thing is that I’m glad that you recognize that the house would bring out the worst in people sometimes because we have a clip of the house bringing out the worst in this man well Dominic Cruz uh is apparently asking Sam about my style and this and that makes me want to cut my leg off and go down to 135 and throw him a beating I don’t doubt him as a coach but I was gonna talk to him about it I hate playing the game but gotta play the game I know me too man that’s just Cruise though that’s Cruz by any means necessary like and for me with Uriah it’s like it’s a weird thing for everybody like this is my main training partner this is my best friend and we’re on separate teams so people were already like kind of worried if we were like sharing information I’m like when you’re in The Ultimate Fighter house there’s something you don’t realize you’re wearing a microphone at all times and those cameras are literally up your ass all the time there’s no way you could sneak information and for favor he was like Hey I respect your friendship with Sam I’m never gonna put you in a weird space to ask anything about him never heard of people Dominic Cruz is like so what’s up what’s Mike so wait a minute so dominant crew and Sam told you this so Sam was like you know we’re trying to find a way to talk about it without getting what a Bard is yeah but it’s just there’s no way to do it and he so Sam told me he’s like yeah dude like he’s grilling me it’s my upcoming fight with Jeremy Larson and he’s just like what’s my key for breakfast when does Mike take a dump in the morning what’s Mike’s favorite punch what’s his favorite submission what’s his takedown like he was trying to get every Stitch of info out of Sam and that but that’s just Dominic cruises if at that point in time I wrote him off I was like screw Dominic Cruz he’s a jerk now his time has gone on and I’ve gotten to work with him and get to know Dominic that’s just who he is he’s such a competitor he doesn’t care he’s like if I have to fight my own teammate I’ll do it I don’t care we’re for me and Sam were like if we can avoid this and fight in the finals we’ll do it but yeah Dominic was just out for blood he just like would not get off Sam’s case about trying to get the drop on me as a fighter we have one more clip that we want to go to that you guys didn’t see on the episode and here it is right here know 2024 I think hopefully maybe the end of this year about early 24 right but what I’ll over the TV this this spring summer because this show is going to be on and then the Netflix documentary comes out so that opens up and is that hot yeah it’s going to be nice it’s gonna be good times a great Christmas movie Conor McGregor is a polarizing figure but after watching that clip there’s only one thing left to do and that is to play a game called what in the hell did he just say because there’s about a 10 second clip in there I have absolutely no idea what he said so do you want to play this do you want to play this game this game is called what the hell did he just say so we’re going to try we’re going to go back and listen to this clip and we’re going to try to decipher with Conor McGregor just said yes I’ll go I’ll go first okay I heard Steve Jobs so I think this was him saying something about the new Apple Vision that came out that would be my guess I’m just shooting from the hip that’s not what he said he said I just got into the east side of the pool that was that he said I just got into the east side of pool and I got more money than Steve Jobs that was what he said that was what he said I could see that I love it all right now we got the gift of the week right here oh a little Upstairs Downstairs action that’s no that’s that’s me when I see my ex dunk it down the IRS that’s me ducking the IRS shoot oh man but you know this episode was fantastic and a lot of eyes are getting in on this a lot of people are catching attention of a lot of eyes we had a special guest send us a message about this episode what’s up everybody Dina white here from the UFC headquarters I just got done watching this week’s episode of tough 31 with t McGregor taking on team Chandler now notice I put the scissors next to team Chandler because I got to remember that we cut these dudes now we had some great fights so far this season in the first week Roosevelt Roberts knocked out Nate General in just eight seconds this week Trevor Wells was supposed to fight Timor value of but my man called the farunco and we had to scrapped that fight altogether so we had Manny Gutierrez take on Cody Gibson in which Cody Gibson won by flying knee team Chandler is kicking butt I can’t wait to see next week when Austin Hubbard takes on Aaron McKenzie tune in because if you don’t know now you know well you know Dean you know Dina white seems to know something about cold sores but I know Dean Thomas knows a little bit about staph infection so let’s go back to a little clip from season five The Comeback that was season four season four season come back with Dean Thomas exhausted nobody really knows how much pain I’ve been in the last couple days I’m suffering from staph infection it’s kind of kicking my ass right now we have selected Dean Thomas to face for his long away to return the East Side assassin Mikey Burnett we picked date because in about 24 hours Dean’s about to get real sick and we figured we catch him at his weakest movement take advantage of it but they picked you because you’re sick man it’s wrong but that’s high because they don’t know that I’m on medication and I’mma get better I mean if you like look at that clip my neck was dead I was like it was like it went off of me yeah oh no that looked rough those were the days you know like looking back at those clips I just it’s so hard to look back at those clips and take myself seriously guys dude I feel the same way you guys are popping up all these clips my long hair my beard talking about being homeless and look at us we’ve come a long way we’ve come a long way now a long way and obviously there were so many things that happened on tough what was something that happened that people might not know you know um this is one we were talking about earlier and uh so you can actually see this on the bloopers part of the DVD back when they did DVDs back in you know back on our day back in our day but uh I actually got fined when I was on Ultimate Fighter with Ally Quinto we had a day or one day off during the week Al and I decided to hit the bottle and we hit it kind of hard and uh we started making like fake cameras and boom mics and we started like chasing the camera crew and like taunting them and uh and Gary DeFranco blessed his heart I love Gary so much he came down to be like he’s the voice of reason like you these these boys need to calm down so I’m opening this big bottle of champagne huge Magnum bottle I’m unscrewing the thing I take the wire off and he comes down he’s like Mike you really think you need to drink that I’m like you know what Gary you’re right I’ll put it down and I slammed it on the counter the cork came out hit the ceiling hit the wall and hit Gary right in the net and so then I went upstairs because I wasn’t feeling so good and I got find and I was laying in bed and I was pretty sick but uh it was it was it was a very fun memory for me I was 24 years old you know Al and I we became so close over the years and we always talk about that date it was very do you remember how much the fine was though I think it was like 250 bucks and for a homeless guy that’s a lot that’s a lot I know that’s a lot of money but still it was a very fun moment I feel like for 13 weeks that we were on the ultimate fighter there’s so much that the fans didn’t get to see and uh maybe someday they’ll run it back and do another Live season but if they do it I better be a coach you never know yep but for now let’s take a look at some some of the but for now let’s take a look at some of the action on next week’s episode of The Ultimate Fighter uh we got we got businessman Conor McGregor welcomes a special guest to the Apex I’ll take these other kids it’s time for another explosive lightweight matchup McGregor’s Jujitsu specialist Aaron McKenzie looks to turn the tide for the prospects I don’t think there’s anybody that can shut my game down as he faces former UFC lightweight Austin Hubbard who is hungry for a return to the big stage I’m going in head first fight’s on who will earn a spot in the semi-finals and move one step closer to be coming The Ultimate Fighter well Mike man I appreciate you coming out man it was a lot of fun hanging out with you man and please come back I would love to come back this dude this is my jam you know I always say this you know every tough has developed some great Champions it’s developed some great Fighters but nobody can ever take away the fact that I won the longest toughest season The Ultimate Fighter tough live as my man John anik would say I tip my hat to you thank you sir but make sure you check out the next episode of The Ultimate Fighter Team McGregor versus Team Chandler Tuesday at 10 p.m Eastern on ESPN and ESPN plus then stick around for after theft because UFC Hall of Famer sugar Rashad Evans is back next week to break down episode 3 on ESPN plus YouTube Facebook and Twitter and check this ESPN subscribers who purchase UFC 289 noon versus aldana will have early access to the next episode of The Ultimate Fighter you’ll be able to stream the third installment of the series beginning shortly after the conclusion of UFC 289 just three days before the episode premieres foreign for some tough love another exhilarating week of tough 31 with another exhilarating fight to accompany it but it wasn’t the fight that we originally expected in life we have to learn to accept and to embrace things as they come even if it’s not what’s expected have faith in your ability to Pivot because life will throw all kind of stuff at you so no matter if it’s a missed opportunity maybe a missed flight or a cold sore where you got your wallet stolen from a car girl in Costa Rica why you were supposed to be on an innocent bachelor party and the police won’t do nothing about it unless you pay them off but you can’t because they already stole your wallet so you just gotta ride with it the point is you have to learn to embrace and pivot as for Manny Gutierrez okay you got locked out so what it happens to the best of them that doesn’t take anything away from the fighter that you are besides you cut Conor McGregor’s hair on national TV how many people can say that in fact I don’t even know how you did that that boy was moving around that chair like a five-year-old on speed if you can do that there’s nothing in this world that you can’t do but until next time I’m Dean Thomas and I am not here to give you problems I’m just here to give you some tough love have a good night [Music] [Music]