With Matt Serra out for the day, Jim Norton is joined by MMA writer John Morgan for an episode of UFC Unfiltered that sees the …
[Applause] and that is very much the goto submission for Alex morono huge win for him tonight I like the standing bang like the good Lord intendant Alex the great white Moro here he is in the UFC and he’s a winner this afternoon at the Apex we expected it we expect to win I I trained that whole Camp expecting to win no matter who it was Dam the determin AR geta welcome to UFC unfilter please tell me that’s on video I’ve never been happier I’m made for a podcast we’re dangerous listen to me we’re out of [Music] here welcome to UFC unfiltered as you can see Matt Sarah Matt Sarah right now here John um thank you John Morgan for filling in um he’s on it was he did I think Rogan yesterday so he’s on a plane coming home today which means it’s shitty weather here in New York Matt is probably on a really uncomfortable bumpy flight that’s what I’m thinking Matt is right now miserable well I’m telling you what what I’m hearing is that he’s big time inist is what happened there you know what I mean he goes and does Joe Rogan and just pushes us here at UFC on filter to the side what’s up with that no respect how about you get an early morning flight Matt how about you on the 6: a.m. what do you Joe might want to have lunch and all of a sudden you know us um so yeah he’s probably on a on a very uncomfortable flight we have uh Alex Moro and uh and uh Dan aretta uh on the show to I think Alex morono is in the uh wedding room if we want to bring him in in just a moment fighting Court McGee on uh Saturday night um this Saturday really really interesting uh main event it is uh Bren Allen against Chris Curtis um really and and poor I’m looking forward to talking to Dan aretta coming off two have you have you talked to anybody coming off two no contests in a row I don’t know if I’ve seen that man that’s not something you see very often right I mean and you just wonder about how what that does to you especially the way that it happened right like one it was a lost it was overturned okay that’s fine exactly right but the other one was like a fight that he he should have won and so that to have that kind of taken away from you man I mean that’s got to be a little bit frustrating cuz man you’re in there because you love to compete but you need those wins to move your career forward so yeah really interested to talk to Dan as well and it’s one of those things and you can bring in um Alex whenever you want uh uh Jake but it’s one of those things where Keith uh uh Peterson was the ref and it’s such a blatant up and he looked like he knew he up it was a h hey Alex how you doing well what’s going on guys good we’re just talking about a referee mistake um uh where he thought that uh do you remember the name of the fighter John it was against Dan areta I can’t remember which which fight that was it was uh uh Lonnie um oh oh uh Lawrence Ronnie Lawrence Lawrence Ronnie Lawrence yes Ronnie Lawrence yep Ronnie Lawrence and uh he thought Keith Peterson thought that he tapped uh but he Keith had pulled his hand back and when he resisted his hand hit the guy’s back but it wasn’t a tap have you had anything like that happen in your career where not necessarily a win that becomes a no contest but but a a terrible terrible moment with the ref uh well so kind of one time I have a I have a oddly enough I know it’s like topically appropriate I have a win on my record from somebody getting disqualified from biting me which sucks I hate that’s such a weird blemish on my record and sure enough once it happened the other weekend everyone was tagging me and stuff right but in the Rules meeting he was like if you guys scream on submissions that’s a verbal you know it’s a verbal tap and in the first round I armbarred this dude and he started screaming and the ref didn’t stop it so like he survives the round round two happens he bites me in round two then going into round three they see a big old bite mark on my chest and then end up disqualifying him but like had the ref called it in round one I would have had a submission one which would have been way better but no I’d say like one of the worst ref mistakes was actually in a fury main event with Edgar chyz he actually fights in the UFC now but he put a guy to sleep with a triangle and the ref didn’t know he was asleep so chyz transitions from the triangle to an arm bar and while this dude’s arm is getting wrenched on he wakes up and then tries to fight the arm bar and then Taps and I was cagide commentary for that like talking the fans through the nightmare scenario so that was weird part of but I mean weird stuff does happen and when you’re bitten like that’s such a crazy street fight and every fighter knows it’s illegal so it’s almost like when you bite someone you can’t think you’re going to get away with it it’s not like putting your hand inside their glove like you can’t think you’re going to get away with that did you ever talk to to uh uh talk to him and ask him what the was he thinking no so I I actually learned um sometimes like pre fight I would bring some real energy would like stare them down and like bounce and I was just getting myself hyped up and I had noticed it would sometimes make my opponents try to like match that level so I think made that fight more intense than it needed to be and it was kind of a crazy fight um and what was funny it was in a ring like an old rickety ring and I had actually like deep half guard swept him to his back and when I swept him he like tossed himself under the ropes thinking it would get reset and it did get reset but with me on top and he takes his mouth guard out to argue with the ref the ref is like no arguing go back in the middle of the ring you know you’re bottom half guard I was top half guard and and I didn’t realize my coach realized his mouth piece was still in his hand when we started grappling like I go for a guillotine he gets on top and like locks on and bites my chest and in the fight I knew I got bit but I didn’t think illegal I I remember yelling like what the f did you just bite me and his coaches were like let stop stop stop and like the fight keeps going on and I end up you know doing some ground and pound and the round ends and then I go into round three and I’m like what what is happening and then the the referee comes up to me and he’s like and he looks at my chest he’s like did he bite you I’m like yeah he did left was like puzzled and I I heard him go to the Texas commissioner at the time and he was like hey he bit him what do we do and the commissioner got Stern and he was like disqualify him and then when I heard that I was like oh well this fight over that was weird I oddly enough I had a rematch with the guy not even on purpose I had seen a post on Facebook a promoter was like Hey short notice fight at 180 pound catchweight and I like hit him up I was like hey I’ll take this fight who’s it against and sure enough it was the same guy so I think Abdullah right yeah so thankfully I triangle choked him in round one on the on the like inadvertent rematch and he and he was cool after that with me he oddly enough ended up sucker punishing the promoter and getting arrested so he’s a guy whose emotions get the best of him and have cost him oh bad I’m surprised they let him fight more than once I’ll never forget my mom is the nicest lady and I’m like a Suburban kid and so she thinks every fighter is like me and she’s like Ally where do you find these guys and I was like Mom we fight in the cage for a couple hundred bucks it’s not gonna be the classiest of individuals every time it was really funny like I still tell I still tell that story to my guys like hey like you know have no expect I expect them to do some dirty stuff because it can and will happen Alex you you grew up in the in the Texas regional scene you talked about it there right like I’m a fellow Texan like you so what what what’s the craziest venue you ever fought I mean that’s a pretty crazy story right there but I know what the Texas regional scene in 2010 was like it’s not exactly the UFC what’s the craziest place you remember fighting in so for pretty much all of my amateur and even a few of my early Pro fights I was I was I had I fought at some bars that I wouldn’t have been able to get into had I been fighting um but man thankfully Mick Maynard had run Legacy it was called lonar Beatdown at the time and he was always a good promoter so the venues were usually pretty nice especially once they went to the Houston Arena Theater but um I’ll tell you some of the weirdest shows we went to were in Louisiana my head coach when I first started was from there so we had some connections with Louisiana promoters and we fought in many like outdoor Rodeo Arenas where our warm-up rooms would be like a stall with like dirt and and horse poop on the ground I mean a lot of those but thankfully nothing nothing ever too bad in Texas and like I’d say the worst ones were the promotions that were not legacy and then thankfully we got Fury right after like I headlined Fury’s first show and that was at the Umble Civic Center so like man I got lucky I had Legacy and fury coming up so I had mostly good experiences that’s awesome that’s awesome I I want to ask you one thing you know you talked about the mentality of a fight like the the psychology of the face off and all that one thing I’ve always loved about you and respect expected about you is like your honesty with yourself and with us right like you’ll come back to the media and be like look I’m not going to be a champion but you know what I’m going to be I’m going to be the best version of myself and I’m going to go put on some great fights out there right but normally when I think about Fighters I think about like you almost have to have like an unhealthy level of self-confidence like you almost have to believe that that you’re the greatest guy even if you’re not but I guess when did you kind of adapt that you know idea of like I’m going to be honest about who I am and where I am and and how do you think that benefits you because it seems just a typical of what you normally find in a fighter yeah I think it just comes down to kind of how like I process information and make decisions I just I love statistics more than anything and I just look at things logically this is my 20th fight in the UFC you know if I was 19 and0 then there there’s there’s you know a very hard case for champ status which is cool and so I get to fight by fight you know Bas if I’m on like a six or seven fight win streak which I’ll like die to try to achieve then sure the goals will adjust like as of right now I had kind of like a volume goal like it was funny my 20th fight was my goal now I have like a 20 wins goal you know with a win on Saturday it’s win number 13 so I still got some work to do you know it was really cool I just I don’t know I like stats and I like the numbers and so I just that’s how I make my decisions and try to live my life and it’s proven very well for me it takes a lot of emotion out of a decision making and uh and like I’m a very optimistic person just by Nature so like if it’s a 5050 chance to win I like my odds if it’s a 10% chance to win I can make it happen but uh I always try to like you know weigh things in an appropriate favor and it makes me for a bad Gambler and a bad investment you know was trying to find angles to make it work but thankfully my wife is like a realist she’s very smart and experienced so anything like that jeopardizes chance or funds I let her make those decisions you you said something interesting too about how uh Abdul Abdul I think last had had uh gotten because of the intensity of the star down and it’s like I as you know I’ve been watching UFC for a long time and you very quickly realize that the toughest looking guy doesn’t always win like and a lot of I’m surprised that somebody was affected by that neg like you know feder always looked like he was watching a cooking show when he was being introduced it was never menacing it was always just kind of quiet and staring and then you’d see somebody putting on a face and it it just doesn’t seem to matter so the fact that somebody was affected by that and allowed that to cause him to do something so crazy probably goes to the the mental state he was in cuz you said he punched a promoter so that shows you that Dana was right to cut sevino who I felt bad for but if someone makes that decision then they’ll make another bad decision in a fight whether it’s that or some other bad decision do you know what I mean yeah so it was funny on the fight where I got bit it wasn’t really a conversation but like my Corners were like hey do you want to try to continue this fight and I was like honestly like what if he out so like the fact that I didn’t have a choice made it easy but oh that’s that is absolutely if someone like doesn’t have the control to follow the rules especially something a serious you know eye pokes and biting then then yeah 100% but uh man it’s just uh it’s interesting the psychology sometimes I would you know I was always just an intense guy when I fought I loved I that’s my favorite part about the fight is like the walk to the cage and the actual feelings like that I realized I had a fight that lost actually and I was like why do I do this I had to really dig deep and like figure out why do I put myself through all this stuff and honestly it’s it’s for the experience especially for like the psychological and emotional experience I think that’s the most value I get out of these fights it’s just like a crazy way to live life and uh and we’ve had guys who uh who kind of psyched out their opponents in fights so their opponents would start to talk to them they would be like oh you know you’re so strong nice choke attempt and my coach who sitting right next to me we’d be in the corner and be like why is this guy talking to our fighter and like what’s funny is I tell my guys I’m like hey I want you guys to be as intense as you need to be I was like but I need you to kind of hide it before the fights start I was like be calm be cool be collected don’t give any information and when the fight starts then put like a crazy pace and intensity on them because I don’t want any other opponents to try to like you know get to that level you know it’s just it’s kind of like a cool it’s kind of like in in Warfare like give them no information you know or sometimes give them misinformation but don’t give them good information and I feel like that’s something that I would do inadvertently in the past that I’ve tried to kind of quell since and I’ll tell you my last fight at the Apex against Buckley I was like a little bummed it was at the Apex and I was like I’m gonna make this routine get in and get out so like my warm-up and my walk was kind of dull and I feel like my performance was lacking because I didn’t have that really cool emotional and psychological Spike so I was really actually happy to get booked at the Apex again so I could run that back so I’m really going to try to feel all of the feelings during the warm-up and I really want to feel the walk and then feel the intensity of the fight I’m really excited to to do this again on Saturday Alex I wonder if you’re excited also I mean I know you’ve always been a fan of kind of fighting the Legends right Cerrone Pettis means you know you were always on that Legend St Court McGee’s got to be one of those guys too right I mean number one a guy how do you not like Court McGee as a human being and what he’s gone through and I think somebody that probably approaches fighting Psych loic a little bit the same way you do as well where it’s like you know we’re going to be respectful and then we’re going to go out there and then we’re going to bring the intensity so talk to me about this matchup I mean your excitement for it number one and and just what you think of cord as as a as a fighter yeah when I fought means you know he fought Matt Brown it was you know four four vets I I being the least you know tenur vet in that quad but I had met him actually in North Carolina and like he just said what’s up and I was like hey it’s good to meet you and then I actually saw him yesterday and I was like Court you know what’s up I look forward to the scrap you know we gave each other like the old bro hug and it was funny Roger the UFC guy was like see that’s how fighter should interact we don’t either but no yeah he’s a vet he’s been in the forever you know this is my 20th UFC fight I think it’s his 23rd and and again you called it man I love fighting these vets especially while they’re still here because like you guys are noticing there’s a big cycle change in the UFC it’s it’s like life you know guys come and go and like even on the main card for Saturday like I know Damon Jackson Alex Hernandez in the main event naturally but some of the other guys they’ve only had you know two or three fights in the UFC so uh yeah I love getting these vets while they’re here and uh and yeah man Court’s been in the mix for a long time you know he’s 39 you know I would be I would be grateful and happy to still be fighting at 39 so you know this was one of like the best fight camps I’ve ever had thankfully it was just a good one like no injuries in incredible shape and honestly like the Buckley Camp was a great Camp he was a southpaw so I feel like I refined a lot of things and got in great shape but I didn’t really get better in this fight Camp I did a lot of wrestling and clinching and everything so I feel like my my grappling oddly enough got much better in like my last Card Saturday before this fight I had a few guys from a couple different gyms bring bring their Fighters their black belts and I just had a dynamite day of jiujitsu and then we sparred after and felt really good so I’m excited to really mix it up in this fight I think it’ll go absolutely everywhere Court he’ll stand and strike but he’ll definitely clinch up and grab so I’m excited to play that full that full MMA regiment with him you know what I’m interested to the Apex when you hear especially I mean during the pandemic it was one thing because it was empty uh but the sounds there are probably so different when you’re fighting what you’re hearing what you can hear from your corner what you can hear from his corner so much different than fighting in an arena has that had any effect on you at all um not necessarily I feel like I’m pretty good at listening to coach safe um the only thing is in a crowd if somebody gets hit flush dropped or whatever then you can’t hear anything but honestly if that happens you’re kind of in like kill mode or survival mode depending on who gets hit whereas at the Apex you can still hear everything um I’ll be honest I do prefer the crowds because I was talking about enjoying that pre that like during the walk and pre-fight energy and it’s definitely more electric with a big with a big fan base sure but again like the Apex is cool and again I’m happy I’m actually happy this one the Apex I want to run that back I think this is my seventh fight at the Apex and uh I doubt it’ll be my last so I want to make sure to like really be able to like dial that R geometer and tune in the best kind of dial where I perform my best I feel like I I I misdialed last time and it wasn’t the dial wasn’t broken like when I fought cowboy and all those other guys at the Apex I felt great and this one I tried to make it to routine and that’s not what this is about Alex you mentioned coach safe sa there uh talk about about your preparation are you still making that trip because I know you’ve got a lot of responsibilities as a gym owner and you’re passionate about that and that’s a houst scen area meanwhile foris is up in Dallas you know a big state to be driving back and forth across what’s what’s your preparation process like that are you are you still making the trip up to Dallas your training camps yeah the beginning of each week I go to foris and get my rounds in with Coach safe my boy RZ Brahim he’s actually got a fight coming up in May and he fought Port so he was one of my main training Partners they got the crop of all those super strong wrestlers they got a couple welterweights that like should be and will be in the contender Series this year um Julius Holmes headline two F shows and got two subs and then jacobe Smith he’s solid and Kyle kretchmer so I’ve been working with all those guys been a lot of fun so then I I’ll train early at Forest get my rounds in come home recover for a day and then do all my you know my my late week training so I’ll go to war they got trevan Giles and Zack Reese I’ve been training with those guys and naturally everybody at my gym a lot of good good a lot of good guys um and yeah I just kind of do that for six weeks and then it’s fight week and I’ve been doing that for a really long time I think I’ve had more fights now in the UFC with Forst than not so that’s definitely become more routine and the drive is not that bad I usually don’t stop it’s like a two and a half two hour 45 minute drive there and back and uh it’s it’s not the worst I was in Dallas and Houston actually a few weeks ago and I did do the Drive Dallas to Houston I did it overnight um a lot of bies stops a lot of stops eating food jerky things I shouldn’t have been I don’t know how you breathe down there maybe you’re used to it but my the no I went from Oklahoma City down to uh Dallas down to Houston and my breathing I don’t think I’ve ever been to a place where I couldn’t breathe uh because of like whatever it does for allergies I’m sure you’re used to it but do you hear that from people they say it’s one of the worst places in the country for allergies yeah it sure is uh it’s funny my wife jokes because like during the allergy season she’ll get some like runny noses but I’m like permanently just kind of but I’m I’m used to it I was born here um it was so funny one time I had my boy Cameron Graves and Jake heon fight on a legacy card in Bowmont and uh he had fought one guy from Colorado and they were thinking their cardio was gonna be really good but we had swamp air down here and those guys were breathing pure water and they seem to kind of fade so we make a joke like we like the humidity I’m very much so used to the humidity and I actually prefer like here in Vegas like we’re I’m going to hit two workouts today and I’m going to get chapped lips and cotton mouth and maybe a bloody nose tomorrow morning so I got to make sure to stays super hydrated but no it certainly does have um its humidity and like the pollen count I think since it’s so humid like our sinus cavities will like maintain moisture so there’s pretty good you know chance of like some bacteria growing but like anything man you get used to it and then you prefer like I like the Heat and I like the humidity I don’t think I’ll ever move out of Houston does that do anything for your cardio uh you you’re breathing in swamp air do does that help cardio at all um does that do anything for I’ve never heard that but again I’m wouldn’t be surprised maybe I mean I like fighting in Vegas like today I’m gonna hit like a pretty heavy lung blowout my my UFC debut was in Vegas and I I didn’t know and so after the fight I like almost puked just from like lactic acid I remember it was just like my lungs were killing me so now I get that heavy like lung expansion a couple days before the fight so come fight time I used to the more Aid climate but uh I don’t know I don’t know the science behind it so I’m not going to go fire off some you know nonsense long facts but I I I like it I mean it seems to benefit us in Houston for sure what’s the most tired you’ve ever been uh in a fight is there is there a moment you can look back on and go like like that like it was the worst you felt or not even bad conditioning but just where you you maybe blew out your an adrenaline dump or something man um Matt you got any feedback on that one I got my shag Co he’s been with me for every single fight since I was like 18 physically the the third round against Buckley was a little rough okay yeah so maybe the third round against Buckley was tough but also man I don’t I broke my hand it’s healed up 100% naturally and uh so I was just on some weird d damage mitigation um honestly not not really uh that fight was more like trying to navigate around the broken hand I had like a weird cut on the inside of my lip no one could see it right but I that was a weird one too um from a weird glancing blow it’s so weird what hurts you in fights like I get flush no big deal weird glancing knuckle on the bottom of my lip slices the inside of my mouth open um so that one really wasn’t fatigue honestly no I mean back man I’ll never forget it was my 11th Pro fight so I had all my amateur fights 11 Pro fights and I took a guy down and Legacy with a trip and I was in his guard all tints and squeezing like I did and I felt him relax and exhale and it clicked like an epiphany you can relax in fights so every fight prior to that remember I said I was like really charged up and intense yeah I was so stiff and ense and every punch was 100% every grappling exchange was 100% so I would I would kind of gas in the third rounds but that’s because I was just too intense I never had that of relaxation but no thankfully I’d say my UFC debut um I took that on like less than two weeks notice and I had a cut on my eye so I wasn’t really able to do much training so I did some running but thankfully so that fight was in January I had a fight in December for the Legacy title and I I was in shape for five rounds so thankfully that fight Camp was so intense and my cardio was so good it actually carried over like the three weeks that I had off and I was ready to fight you know three rounds but I went three rounds with no and by the end of the third man I was pretty tired but but that’s maybe the worst I’ve felt cardio wise in the UFC but thankfully man I can’t really I can’t really uh think of any notable fights Rob Gast which is nice yeah well Alex look I mean uh really interesting fight against Court McGee who everybody likes um and you you’ve never lost two in a row so you’re coming off a loss so whatever it is you do whatever mental uh strength you have to write the course Very quickly uh you’ve done really really well in your career so it has not seemed to affect you or maybe it seems to motivate you or whatever it does yeah motivated for sure you know I like court but uh man I was motivated in this in this fight camp and then like even against Buckley I was like supposed to be very technical like don’t brawl don’t make it crazy and I man I’ll be honest I like getting a little crazy in there now granted I’m gonna be technical in this fight you have to be in the UFC like I’m ready to really really throw down and and clinch hard and grapple Hard Punch hard so I think usually after a loss it is motivation camp and I think this fight Camp was so successful because every training session it was to improve and just increase that chance of winning in the Octagon man I really am ready to rock and roll I’m very excited I’m you I’m always excited for fights this I am particularly excited for Saturday man like I wanna I want to go make weight and I wanna experience everything and make the walk more than anything I want to start my warm-up make the walk to the octagon and then step inside the Octagon like that’s what I’m waiting for and the fight is like a reward for all of that fun well have a great fight Alex always good talking to you and again like John to Echo he said love how honest you are and you don’t hear that from a lot of uh Fighters that level of honesty so it’s great to hear from you um and uh always love watching you fight good luck against Court McGee on Saturday night well thank you guys I appreciate it all right buddy we’ll talk to you again okay later all right be good Alex yeah that is interesting John when you hear guys talk about I you know I like to hear guys talk about being afraid too like because they all are you can’t be in a fight with some guy who’s a really great fighter and not feel something so I love when Fighters are honest about being afraid and how they manage it I I do too man and that’s one thing I mean look Alex brono has proven himself as a guy like if you’re a hardcore you know that guy it’s going to be an exciting fight every single time but yeah he’s so well spoken about and I’m like you man I I love hearing that I think that’s one of the greatest things about this sport to be honest is because I think all of us as you know guys on the outside that aren’t getting in there do it we’re like man these these are like superhuman people that are just built differently and they structur like no man they have all the all the same you know concerns and fears and whatever I mean cowboy Cerrone was one of the first guys that I remember really talking about it I mean he’s that anybody anytime anywhere guy right but he would always say you know I’m in the locker room before the fight throwing up saying why do I do this to myself my God what am I doing but as soon as it’s over I want to go do it again I think when you realize that it’s just so inspiring to understand that like no man they have all the same thoughts that you do they just find a way to overcome all that and to say you know what man I’m I’m G to beat this you know and not let those things intimidate you and I think as for us on the outside man you can use that as motivation to do things that that you’re intimidated by that you’re scared by in life so I love that part of the sport man and cowboy is a Maniac like he showed me foot we were doing I was some in Vegas with Matt one time time and he had footage on his phone of he’s a pilot um and I think he flies like smaller planes or whatever but he was going straight up in the air and kind of letting the engines cut and then drifting back to and then they have to start he is nuts but what a high what a high level of dopamine you need to to you know what I mean when when you when you have to do that to feel like really crazy and excited so he leads a very full life um to to say the least um what what do you think about this uh this uh this uh Curtis Allen fight I mean I love Chris Curtis I mean I love Allen it’s kind of hard to not like these guys it really is man it’s it’s it’s an interesting one right because Brendan Allen was supposed to be facing Marvin Victoria and bryndan Allen has kind of been that dark horse in the division right like crawling his way up and trying to be considered among the lead but the top of that middleweight division has just been kind of set because you got a lot of big names up there I mean you look at adna you look at Whitaker and now you’ve got you know the new names in there with rck is dup C and Strickland immersion so you have these familiar names but then you kind of got that next tier of guys that’s ready to get up there and and Brendan Allen is one of those guys and I think the opportunity to fight vtori was a chance for him to maybe break into that group now I don’t want to take away from Chris Curtis at all because I think it’s a dangerous fight right Chris Curtis is one of those guys that it doesn’t matter if he’s stepping in on a week’s notice a day’s notice an hour’s notice like you know he’s ready to fight and so it’s almost like a like a trap fight for Brendan Allen right like did you lose a little bit of focus because you’re not getting to fight the higher ranked guy that you thought you were you know this is a man that you faced before and so what what’s so I’m really really intrigued by this because um it’s still a big spot for Brendan Allen it’s a main event you know what I mean and you win here you get that opportunity on the mic you get the media time you get all that um but you know Chris Curtis Man On Any Given night can beat anybody in the division so I’m super intrigued by this yes and and and you’re right it’s one of those things where how do you mentally go into it do you is it a let down because you’re not fight it’s just the number it’s not a disrespect to Chris it’s you you fought the guy and it’s the 14 compared to I forget what Victoria is ranked but he’s I think he’s top six right top or top 10 right um who was it it was on I want to say it was on uh hias Unice who fought and lost to uh an unranked opponent that I think they took the fight on late notice there’s so many fights but I remember before the fight thinking like you’re taking a risk by doing this fight and again I always go back to to Frankie Edgar Bryan Ortega like when he took a fight he didn’t have to take it it cost him a shot against uh Max Holloway I can’t remember what fight it was is driving me crazy well you’re right but you take a chance every time you get out there right because those rankings let’s be honest I mean you had the top 15 rankings but everybody at the UFC level is a killer and if they they’re able to step up so and it’s it’s honestly why I think you have such respect for guys that are willing to face people below them right A lot of times you say I’m I’m not going to fight down you know but to to recognize like no I need to give that opportunity you know I need to give a chance to people because you know somebody gave me that chance so you respect that but yeah you you always do Wonder now you know Brenan Allen obviously he’s got the opportunity to to to get a little bit of Revenge there so maybe that one is going to keep and motivated in it you know it’s the it’s the last person he lost to is Chris Curtis so you know maybe that’ll keep them fired up but you just never know because you had a plan of where you thought you were going to be you’ve been fighting for thisr you’ve been fighting uh to get recognized as a top Contender does that change anything so um I’m intrigued by this one look it’s natural that everybody’s already talking about USC 300 I feel like this card might go a little under the radar this week sure and then that’s natural but I I do think if you really dig into it there’s some fun matchups on the card and I I think there’s some Intrigue in the main event and and you can’t like with with uh 300 coming up one of the things UFC does so well and I was I was thinking of this when we were talking to Alex is like boxing I again for boxing fans fine but I I I just don’t care about boxing anymore and even when I do watch something yes I’m going to watch Jake Paul Tyson of course but I don’t care about the the the fights leading up to it and what UFC has been so good at is developing these fighters on fight nights and these smaller cards where they have something every it’s not always a pay-per-view 300 level but it’s it’s there’s good enough fights and exciting enough prospects uh where you watch them and the prelims are good and and the early prelims are good so they’re really good at building Talent very quickly uh because they’re on these fight nights and you don’t have to wait for these giant cards to hopefully catch them on a on a prelim no it’s it’s crazy I mean you look at boxing and obviously the big boxing fights are fun but you know you go to the undercard of a big boxing match and there’s nobody in the arena there’s no media there I mean literally nobody An Empty Arena until the main card and maybe even halfway through meanwhile you look at UFC 300 and we’re kicking off at 3:30 in the afternoon in Las Vegas with Devon Figaro versus Cody garbrandt I mean it’s crazy early prelims it’s I look I I my my good buddy Eric McMahon you know there’s a lot of people that have been criticizing uh USC 300 oh I don’t know if this is big enough he’s like listen to me he’s like if there was a UFC pay-per-view that had Alex petta versus Jamal Hill as the main event and then the rest of the main card was Jaylen Turner hanat moano Jessica andrj Marina Rodriguez Bobby green Jim Miller and Devon figaredo versus Cody garbrandt what would you say you’d be like that’s a damn good pay-per-view bro those are the early prelims you know what I mean like this card is stacked uh uh yeah uh Jang against uh uh how do you say her name Yan Janan is that it yanan exactly and uh of course gatei Holloway in the BMF that’s a fun fight like who doesn’t want to see that um you know look aljo I I don’t necessarily think Al jamain should have been a third fright on the prelims I’m biased because I know Al J I like him against Calvin Kar uh but then again brovka against raic is the the main fight of the I mean this is one of the best cards I’ve ever seen it’s in saying I mean and the debut of Kayla Harrison which I’ve been a Kayla Harrison fan for a long time and she’s got a really really tough match up in Holly Holm who can easily play spoiler then sadique YF versus Diego Lopez I mean that’s an exciting fight so I mean this 300 card is stacked you know it’s I feel like some fans were like you know hey will khabib come back will Brock come back will Ronda come back that was those were never realistic options you know what I mean this card to me is stacked I I I love it I I just don’t understand the criticism to be honest khabib is khabib and you would have noticed him training for a fight if he was coming back but I don’t need to I don’t want to see Brock in the UFC again I mean he was very exciting and you know respectful Tonda I I I again she had an amazing time and I I loved her and she’s responsible for Why women’s MMA is so successful but it’s like you know I I’m I like who they have now I mean the UFC survived and I know we have our next guest the way this is they survived the exit of Rhonda the that pretty much fight every 3 years of Conor and the couple of years at a time exit of Jon Jones their biggest talent Anderson Silva and they just keep on going so it’s amazing how well they develop uh uh talent and now we should bring uh uh a Dan in I’m I’m here yapping because I drank another coffee right before the right before the thing John so I apologize to Dan oretta uh another really uh fun and exciting fighter to watch uh 9-1 against uh is it it’s John matoto who’s 14 and0 and uh this is a great [Music] fight good to see you coming off we were talking before about how you’re coming off of two no contest and I’m sure you’ve addressed that a lot um one one was hey the loss uh and one was the one that you should have won how does that affect you mentally has that played on your mind at all or is it uh how have you how have you kind of processed that I’m consistent you’re cons you go consistent or lucky what do you wna call it what it is I think for some reason the the MMA world you know they evened it out for me I you know wasn’t able to claim that dominant win over Ronnie Lawrence and that loss under Miles J or under miles you know I don’t necessarily have to claim it on my record it was the best lesson I’ve ever learned in the sport you’re uh that Miles uh John’s fight that was a great fight but I there was a couple cards in 3027 I was a little suspect I I didn’t think 3027 uh was accurate at all uh you don’t care I don’t even care I lost yeah I guess so I I but Dan so what was the lesson you said it was the most valuable lesson so what was the specific lesson you took out of it man after that fight Co you know we went into that fight I was a little I was a little burnt man I that was my third fight of the year I you know after the Ronnie Lawrence thing they were like okay rematching at the end of the month or in a month and I was like oh like dude it takes lot for me to make the way I was like man okay jumped right back into Camp you know it was Father’s Day the day after the fight and Cub was like hey go run you know go get some of this off you know you start Camp already you’re not hurt you’re good to go and two weeks later when Ronnie turned down the rematch the UFC was like all right well thank you for you know wanting to take the rematch we got you a fight in six weeks I’m like whoa whoa it’s not even enough time to do my shoulder therapy you know I kind of went into the camp a little burnt but all I told myself you know I follow the same rule don’t say no to a fight you know don’t say no to a fight you never know when it’s going to be your last one you never know if the next fight they’re going to giv you give you is worse than the original you man man up this is what you chose to do and that’s exactly what I did and honestly the Mantra of the whole Camp was don’t quit don’t give up on yourself don’t quit during the weight cut don’t quit during the by itself when going into the second round I I thought he destroyed me I thought he destroyed me and I was like I rewatch it I’m like d you idiot you won that first round you just need to hop you know you had to start pulling that trailer right away the ball was already rolling and it it broke me going into the second round where I I was like okay uh avoid the game plan terrible idea on my part you know lack of experience on my part I uh I felt like an amateur out there man it sucked like I I wanted to make sure I apologized to you guys for you know speaking so highly of me throughout the years of my career and me going out there and kind of not delivering how I should have or how I could have if if I was all there you know on a fresh Camp full Camp you know and and after it the biggest lesson was all right you got this far off your grappling off your wrestling off of just being a damn dog now Cub said after I I took a month off after that fight to heal up and he had me live in one of his houses in Palm Springs to train at the famous well Diaz boxing gym and I did that I box twice a day five days a week I would go see my girl in LA I’ll drive to LA on the weekends hang out with my fiance Monday I’ll drive right back to the boxing gym every day I live there by myself or with a training partner for three months the first week I was like man this is fun second week damn I suck at boxing third third week third week am I getting any better fourth week I think this is impossible I don’t know if I can catch up day number 32 I go do MMA Spa back in Orange County I’m on Dan you fixed it now keep going two more months of that Dan now you can hang with now you can hang with any of the guys striking in the sport good job you did it but that’s not the goal the goal is just to be able to defend enough to make the guy think I want to hurt the out of him and start wrestling yeah now he’s dead what did uh oh sorry D what what did Keith Peterson say to you there was one moment where he walked over after that bad decision he knew he made a mistake or I guess he had looked at the replay uh did he say anything to you in your corner um I think he just I think he just said hey man I apologize that was it oh he did say he were sorry though yeah and I looked at him I said you’re human man no hard feelings got you know yeah you you look the UFC hires the best people in the world to do this man everyone makes mistakes it was a freak situation yeah I’m over it I’m over it it’s okay Dan you you mentioned Cub Swanson there I wanted to ask I mean you you you’re quick to give him a lot of credit how did that relationship start between you two guys and and you know what would you say he’s meant to your career because it seems like you’re you’re quick to give him a lot of credit for where you are right now oh dude he found me when I was still I was coaching wrestling and I was just you know partying I said I wanted to fight never and in the back of my head I was I didn’t know if I was ever actually going to do it I was just you know helping Fighters with the wrestling and he didn’t give me an out it was you’re going to you’re going to live with me you’re going to stay in New Mexico you’re going to come back out to my Camp you’re going to fight Dan what do you think about this guy and it it switched my mind to yeah let’s do it you like it I trust you let’s do it you know Cub got me my first amateur fight and he’s still getting me fights today we made my UFC debut five years to the weekend from my first amateur fight that he got me May 3d y um what do you think of New Mexico did it take you a while to adapt to New Mexico um so I was before my amateur fight it was after Cubs uh artum Loba fight we were in Asheville and I’m like all right what what now man he goes all right you’re gonna come back out to California you’re gonna live with me and you’re gonna fight and then after my fight he said okay you’re G to go to New Mexico and train Ray Borg and I was like okay and when I was done training Ray Borg for his DJ fight I was like okay Coach Jackson going back out to California he goes nope actually already talked to him you’re staying here you’re staying here till you learn how to fight I stayed there for about three years a year and a half two years in my uh my now fiance and I we planned with all the coaches the staff with Cub my management our families that we were going to make the move to LA so that she can continue her schooling and she uh she’s at USC for dental so she actually graduates in May as a doctor of dental surgery and it worked out because I was near Cub for four years so three years of being in New Mexico four years of California each year that we were in California I’ve spent five to six months in New Mexico training so I you know I’m no slouch to being uncomfortable and having to readjust to these camps so what I’ll tell you is like you know for being comfortable in New Mexico I’m as comfortable as I can be I I try to take myself out of those Comfort zones man soon as I get comfortable I go switch go back to California and I’m like then I have to restart soon as I get comfortable there okay back to New Mexico restart you know it keeps me on my toes and it I think it helps me as an athlete I think it helps me as a man as a little brother as a son as a fiance I think it it helps me adapt to circumstances so I don’t want to say I’m comfortable with it but I learned how to get things done did did your fiance leave LA and come stay with you the whole time what do you mean when you were in New Mexico did was she wasn’t she in La we no we were in New Mexico together for about three years oh you okay I was spending about five months in California I see okay so I was I’m always flip-flopping so now we’re actually going to move back to New Mexico in May so I I’ll be with uh coach Winkle John coach Jackson and Coach Dominguez fulltime and I will continue traveling out to California to train with uh bloodline uh management I love Dan you know you talk about you know not allowing yourself to get comfortable putting yourself in uncomfortable places man your social media I gota be honest it’s inspirational as hell man I the the determined as a nickname I mean the perfect nickname but I mean I guess the that mindset that you have of like pushing through everything and and and putting yourself in these uncomfortable positions like when did you adapt that I mean has that been you from childhood was there a moment in your life where you know everything kind of clicked like when did you adapt that mindset you have that as I said people should follow you on social media get it because it’s inspirational as hell the moment happened when I realized there were people like Jean Matsumoto out there that’s when it happened and that happened as soon as I started the sport when I realized man I wasn’t the best wrestler most skilled I my career I didn’t have the best head movement I didn’t have the best hands I I wasn’t always the fastest I’m the damn strongest I know that I’m the strongest bantamweight in the world I know that for a fact but like you know these skills once I found that out I said man I can work on it but these guys some of them have gifts that I don’t you know what they don’t have they don’t have a full life I have a full life I don’t get excuses I don’t allow myself to have any excuses because the people I keep around me allow me to work as hard as I want I make sure that I keep people around me that push me constantly and once I realized that that’s where that’s where the drive came from to work hard it was I have to I don’t have the same body as a Jon Jones I don’t got the speed of a Matsumoto I didn’t have the experience of starting MMA at eight years old like him but where these guys lack is I wouldn’t say they lack everyone everyone in this sport works hard right but where I know I drown people is at the deep end of that pool yep yeah your cardio is unbelievable um and and Relentless like watching you you just seem like a nightmare to deal with uh you’re always going for take just a Relentless um and I guess I’m sure you can feel at one point when someone is tired and there’s nothing worse than somebody who just won’t stop it’s like watching morab like nobody wants to deal with morab because he just doesn’t stop moving he doesn’t stop uh do you ever feel people break uh meaning can you feel deep into the in the third round or late into the second round where you can just kind of feel um and then I’m not questioning their heart but can you just feel their ability to resist you break a little bit by that point so this is a I’ve I’ve never really thought of this I’ve never been asked this um I’m surprised I’ve never been asked that but you know how they uh how in sports they tell you you don’t focus on the your adversary focus on yourself you know keep your eyes on your own paper freaking work on yourself yeah even in the fight I do that I my gaug is okay if I’m tired this guy’s dying I Cub always says that’s why I’m an issue because I I live for that I live to train tired I one of my last sparring in California they had me do you know I do three hard rounds and we go home three hard rounds and if I feel like I screwed up my coach is say nope you’re done you’re next week you get to worry about that make the changes you got a week but this practice they’re like okay you’re going to do four five and six after I already blew my load in three rounds and I was like okay fourth round you know I cbed us so well in making us take care of each other in the room once I started dominating a guy this guy in the fourth round I was just Pitter pattering his face on top you know just staying active you know looking for him to make an opening and he wasn’t opening up so I just kept on tapping him tapping him tapping him and they’re telling me danam come on you got to get the finish in there he wasn’t opening up I kept going at the end of the round I rolled off this dude and threw up all over the mat and started laughing I still had two rounds to go but I started laughing because this guy’s dying he’s dying but I made sure that I pushed myself to okay I’m not going to hurt you but I’m gonna pay for that I’m gonna pay for that I’m gonna push so hard that I know that if this was real and I was trying to hurt you I’m throwing up in your face because I’m so damn tired know you’re dead and know stuff like that like that’s where I get that that drive in the fight where I’m like I’m not worried if you’re tired I know you’re tired my gauge is how tired am I if I’m dead you’re you’re done you know and as soon as I feel that now I start laughing now I start having fun now when I get in these positions where I’m relaxed this guy is he wants his way up I’m at least I’m not in the gym thrown up I’m good to go I I told you the determined was the right nickname for you man they got that right so hey talk about this matchup right Matsumoto you said a couple it sounds like you have a lot of respect for me and obviously he brings that perfect record to the cage sounds like you got a lot of respect so what do you think about him as an opponent kind of what he presents to you out there so I I’m maybe you’re familiar with uh my LFA career before The Ultimate Fighter you know during the beginning of covid LFA when they had their first show man there was no slouches fighting only the toughest of the tough were willing to fight you know those the toughest of the tough were trained through everything the toughest of the tough we’re training and not working we’re training full-time my first fight I uh during Co I fought Jackson fiho black belt and we had a war my first time going to war for three rounds guy made me he looked like an action figure I looked like a Barbie doll compared to him you know it was wild and I got it done and then Ultimate Fighter happened then I fought out a fight to get my feet wet after the show and then they gave me my first real challenge which it was an undefeated 10-0 Brazilian with plenty of Knockouts they called him the next Anderson Silva what did I do to him I was so fired up that everyone thought I was gonna lose that when I was on him during that fight I was foaming at the mouth literally my coaches they were looking at me and they were like Dan so no you’re good just do it again they paused during the rounds they’re like you’re good you’re fine keep going and I was like okay and I third round I’m on top of this dude and I told the ref backstage I’m like hey this kid’s only 20 years old man if you see him taking too much damage please do not make me keep going I asked the referee I I asked him he’s like oh I got you no worries no worries and I’m like okay man third round I’m on top of Santos firing off elbows and I’m I wasn’t even trying to hurt him I was just putting volume almost like a training partner at this point I knew he was dead because I was pretty tired I was foaming at the mouth and I’m hitting him hitting him I’m elbowing him elbowing him and I’m I’m looking at the ref I’m like you could watch the video on my on my Instagram I’m saying you said you wouldn’t do this to him and the ref pulls me off and I yelled at the ref and I’m like do it and then just that fight alone I’m like I’ve been in there with the stud I’ve been in there with the kid that’s supposed to beat me I I know what it feels like yeah I love these Brazilians I have so many Brazilian friends and I love the battle they bring that’s why I respect Matsumoto so much I love that they like War I like War this is great you know but my mindset right now is I’m his first American all American Life Born freaking stud of a wrestler I’m I’m a monster for this kid you know and it it reminds me of uh you know UFC one I I’m I constantly have this shirt out on my uh suitcase of of UFC one to remember you know yeah I did all the boxing work and everything I ain’t trying to beat this kid in boxing I ain’t trying to beat him in kickboxing I’m not trying to make it pretty I’m trying to fight him I want to fight I wanna I want to dominate him so that it feels like that my room fight where everyone who thought everyone all the keyboard Warriors that’s seen this everyone who loves the contender series understands that there’s levels to this I’ve been wrestling longer than he’s been alive right great fight Dan um looking forward to this man uh John matoto uh welcoming him to the UFC and um really good talking you man really you’re interesting and uh I hope to have you back on it’s good talking to you oh it was awesome I was excited to talk to you you know that finally they gave me the media where I’m like I gotta talk to these guys no one really knows my mindset they see my social media in they just say oh wow this kid works hard I think one of my issues is I think I’m a little too smart for myself sometimes but I use it to my advantage where I can I can understand where uh where people aren’t as strong as me and it uh you know I use it to my advantage like I said have a great fight on Saturday um really really exciting matchup and uh we’ll definitely talk to you again we appreciate you being here thank you guys appreciate it thanks a lot Dan take care Jim that’s some that’s some that’s some low-key Savage trash talk right like I’ve heard guys that are in the back before where they talk to the referee and they’re like hey man if it looks like I’m in trouble just let me go out on my shield don’t stop it for me too early I’ve heard a lot of guys say that I don’t know if I’ve ever heard somebody tell the referee like look man don’t make me permanently disfigure this young gentlemen on the other side of the cage promise you step in there fight again uh you know matam 14-0 but again against a guy there’s I don’t care who the people are there’s always a UFC again even if you’re coming in like Chandler or gatei already an established star there’s still something about I just asked this to uh oh God who the did we just uh who did we just interview on uh he just beat Uh Kevin Holland oh my God I’m oh Michael Michael Venom page yeah um just talking about coming into the UFC as an established person and feeling that so when you’re coming in and you’re not on that level there’s no way you don’t feel it and you have to deal with a guy like this a guy who wants to drag you down to the floor who’s going to have his head in your hips the whole time trying to single leg you trying to double it’s a it’s a nightmare it’s a very hard fight for this uh uh matoto coming in so look John oh sorry I got no I say it is and it’s it’s good to hear Dan Embrace who he is you know what I mean sometimes I think you hear guys well oh my box you know he said look I’m trying to improve my boxing but not because I’m trying to be a boxer like I know what I am I know what got me to the show and I think sometimes people forget kind of what got him there so I love the fact that he just Embraces who he is Embraces what he’s best at and uh you know I think that’s going to make him successful so listen we touched on it everybody’s talking about usfc 300 but there are some fun fights on this card this weekend Alexander Hernandez versus Damon Jackson could be an absolute brawl Trevor Peak versus Charlie Campbell I’m looking forward to as well so you know it’s totally understandable this one’s flying under the radar when you got the massive UFC 300 on the horizon but I do think there’s going to be some fun matchups this weekend at the Apex yep starts 3 o00 Eastern on ESPN plus and the main card starts 6 p.m. which I love love love these early fights uh cuz I work at night so I can watch these and then go to work uh ESPN plus 6m Allen versus Curtis to um so yeah don’t just skip over this one to get to 300 there’s some really great fights on the card and John what do you want to promote where can people hear your podcast and where can people keep up with you hey yeah definitely check me out on social media John Morgan MMA we’ll link it out there uh this Thursday night fury professional grappling nine will be on USC fight pass as well we’ll be out in Georgia at the Air National Guard base there putting on some grappling matches so check that out uh and uh and then obviously next weekend USC 300 but don’t forget cffc 131 as well on Friday night on USC fight pass so lot of lot of fun stuff with the cffc family coming up as well thank you John and tonight if you want to see me Wednesday 7 p.m. I’m at The Fat Black Pussycat doing an hour and uh I have a new video up uh with my wife on our YouTube page for anybody that wants to see my miserable married life and uh always good talking to you man I appreciate you so much being here you’re you’re great to have on thanks for having me Brother anytime all right talk to you soon John Morgan thank you buddy