Video
Original Description
On today's episode of Good Guy/Bad Guy, DC & Chael dive into the news surrounding Conor McGregor and how he is facing an 18 month suspension for "whereabout failures". Only thing to say is that Chael P Sonnen was right! The guys dive into what "whereabout failures" mean and how this suspension comes about. With Conor's suspension scheduled to end in March of 2026, and the White House event taking place in June… does this make it more likely that McGregor's return will in fact happen? Plus, does Youssef Zalal have a case, following his win vs Josh Emmett last weekend, to be next for featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski? DC breaks out the pen and paper to matchmake the division. And, the fight of the year took place Tuesday night on Dana White's Contender Series … Why did Chael believe the wrong person won?
0:00 Welcome!
1:31 Conor Suspended
3:27 Suspension for whereabouts failure
7:54 Suspension ends in time for white house
19:37 Zalal next for Volk?
23:42 DC plays matchmaker
29:55 First time for DWCS
32:21 TUF Alum wins on DWCS
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Video Transcript
Another day, another show, and another pat on the back. It turned out once
again I was right. [Music]
What's up, guys? Welcome to a brand new episode of Good Guy Bad Guy. I'm Daniel Cormier. That's chill son and chill. I haven't done that for a while. You
normally start the show now. I must tell you, I wasn't completely prepared. You caught me out of nowhere.
You didn't like that. You didn't you didn't you didn't like that, huh? You see how it feels on the other side whenever one of your just a small part
of your job gets taken and it's like I don't know if I like this before. I used to start the show and then you started
starting the show. I started ending the show. It's like it it it's different. You look clean by the way. You got a
nice haircut. I really like this. We got a guy named Tyler that cuts our hair at the apex now. It's like a barber
shop in our locker room. Bro, every time I go now to the Apex, it's starting to feel more and more like the NFL uh
locker room. Well, not as nice, right? We just have like IKEA closets, whereas they have legit locker rooms like inside
of the stadium of the Rams, but we uh you know, we're doing better now. Got our names on the doors and we got a
barber. So, yeah, it's exciting. Chill, listen. I don't want Barry to lead here
because I I have something I wanted to talk to you about since I found out. So Conor McGregor got suspended. All right,
that leads to two things, right? One, you were right about something a little bit ago, but ultimately he got suspended
for missed test. Chill, you and I both understood and recognized when we were
under USADA, you had to be where you told them. You have the whereabouts and everything. They show up at your house,
you take the test randomly. When USA left, everybody spoke as if there was
not going to be any testing anymore. Right, Jill? The UFC told us, "We have a new independent organization that's
going to handle our testing." I don't know if it was controlled by the UFC. Everybody asked so many questions
about this testing organization. Come to find out, the testing organization is real. They just suspended somebody for
missing test. I didn't I didn't know. I really didn't know. My brother, don't be
funnier than me. It turns out the organization is real. When I went down on USADA, I called of all people Joe
Rogan. He's getting ready to go on stage. I said, "Joe, I really need you to call me back." And we weren't like necessarily buddies. I'm like, "I really
ching. I need you to call me back." He calls me back. I said, "Joe, you know that new testing agency that they got?"
He said, "Yeah." I said, "It turns out they're pretty good." And what I wanted was like some kind of levity, something
funny that you can say when you're caught in this terrible moment. Let me break this down for our audience. And by
the way, I've got a whiteboard, okay? I filled this out with a timeline to explain to everybody. My son came in,
decided to play tic-tac-toe on it, and erased it all. But the timeline's very important. So if we're to go back to
June 13th of last year, that's the very day that Dana White announced that Connor and Chandler was not going to
happen. And just to remind you, the date it was supposed to happen was just two weeks later, June 29th of International Fight Weekend.
We now get armed with the information that that was the first, and we call it a whereabouts. Whereabouts is within the
I'm not condescending to you, but to our audience that may not know. And it's quite literally what it sounds like. You've got to let the agency know your
whereabouts. Where are you at all times, seven days a week, 24 hours a day, 365
days. The thing that I find to be interesting with this situation is I I'm
not convinced and I'm speculating. I'm not convinced that Connor didn't give accurate whereabouts. He just has such
an impressive team around him and Connor would be one of these guys that's very busy. He could be planning to be in LA,
get a phone call that he's got to be in Seattle. Like this could be a little bit more difficult for him. But the next
date that was failed was September 19th followed by September 20th. And I will
just share with you with these agencies, they don't want to catch you. Like it's not a got you moment. They will show up
and all they have to do is knock and if you're not there, you're technically in violation. That's not how they work. They'll stay. They'll stick around for
an hour. They'll call you. They'll text you. They'll call or text your your wife or significant other if they have the
ability to. They do a really good job of trying to be reasonable. And my own belief is that Connor was where he said
he was. He was just on the other side of the door. My my own belief is there was something where he's going well and you
know that happened with John. There was this big rumor in our industry that John hid under a ring. That wasn't a rumor
something to be nasty. They actually showed up and John wasn't ready to test and there was nowhere to go. And I just
share with you the number one thing that you cannot do is to avoid a test. But the definition Daniel of avoiding a test
is that they see you, they introduce themselves and you then either flee or you refuse to give the sample. They have
to, per the definition, lay eyes on you. So if you were on the other side of the door, let's just say, and you look
through the people and you didn't want to let them in, you could do that and then you would fall under the whereabouts. I don't believe that Connor
will ever have to speak about this. Connor did not technically, by the way, fail a drug test. He
he has not a whereabouts. They give you three in a calendar year. So, you you could miss a plethora of them, but you
get three every 12-month period, which is really just the agency being reasonable and saying, "Listen, we've
got young men and young women, and sometimes they're not as organized as they'd like to be." It's it's a very reasonable situation, but it also helps
to shed a little bit of light. I think that it was a pretty tough call when Conor McGregor, whose last time in the octagon, had a fractured leg and still
demanded that he do his interview. That's how tough this guy is. And for his very next appearance, he pulls out
due to a discolored pinky toe, which may or may not be broken. It may not be his. And that's where I do the little bit of
a victory lap of I told you so. But my ability to smear Connor, it kind of ends right there. We really don't have any
other information. And frankly, I don't think we ever will. No, I don't think he's going to have to answer for it. But chill. You think he
was just there and he's like, "Yeah, well, I'm not letting him in." No. Yes. Yes. That is what I think. Daniel
before Usada started and USADA is a pool that we all had assigned a contract and agreed to be and before we had done that
they actually started working with the UFC and they came to Portland and they sent me a text message. They identified
themselves. They told me that they were down at the Portland airport and they wanted to know where I was. Now this was my big moment to put that phone down or
turn that phone off for the 3 days that I needed. I had taken the supplements I tested positive for earlier that day. So
I know when I'm driving to them, I mean, I'm in my car driving to them, realizing I'm about to hand them a sample that's
going to go nuclear. I'm Why' you go, Daniel? I didn't know what I didn't We weren't armed with very much information
at that time. So, I showed up. I show I knew exactly I knew exactly what was
going to happen, but I showed up and there was the the the whereabouts clause. I'm just saying there there turns into a little bit of a
gamesmanship here, but Connor would be cleared in March of next year. And one of my bigger questions is
just simply who knew or who didn't know that this was going on because we were billing Connor and we were advertising
Connor and we were bringing him uh but but I had that same secret. I was sitting inside just waiting for these
test results to come back waiting for this news to drop and Connor played this to the absolute last second. He played
it as though he was negotiating for a card that he knew he was not going to be clear to negotiate for.
No, no, he is though. But that's the that's the thing though. That's where I think Connor was so smart in this thing.
Chill. It's like if you take it retro to that date, right? That date you said
June 13th. It expires on Jake. Put that in there. It's over
March 2026. March. Yeah. Yo, White House is in June of 2026. So,
he literally he literally has found a way to be eligible for the biggest card
in UFC history. It's like Connor, hey chill, if I go up to you as the biggest
star in the US and I go, hey man, you got to take the suspension. You're going to have to take the suspension. It's
going to have to be public that you are suspended. Not for a failed drug test. Even though rumors are swirling and when
people look at you, they go, "Well, Conor McGregor's changed, right?" Like, it's just the truth. Like the eye test says he was bigger, especially during
Roadhouse where he just got massive. The eye test says something may be up,
Connor. you're going to have to take this suspension, but what's going to happen is we're going to be able to get
the suspension retroactive to June 13th of that time. You'll still be eligible for the White House. You'll be in the
testing pool for the allotted amount of time that you have to be in in order to fight, but you're going to have to take
that little bit of a public whipping, right? You're going to have to walk downtown square and people are going to throw stuff at you like Cersei Lannister
on Game of Thrones, but at the end of it, you're ultimately still going to get to go and fight on the biggest card that
we've ever had. What do you say to that? You go, I don't want my name through the mud. Or do you go, okay, I'm taking the
hat all day long. I'm taking that. Well, one thing about this is interesting. I mean, Connor wasn't fighting anyway. One
thing about this that is interesting from the perspective of the testing agency, Daniel, I don't believe, and I
got to tell you, I'm an expert in this for all the wrong reasons, but an expert nonetheless. I don't believe that you'll ever find an athlete, including our
Olympic athletes, on a whereabouts that never had a prior violation that got 18 months. It is an extremely standard 12.
They really don't want to do it to they do it 12, they make it retroactive. When they give you 18, this is them tipping
the hat, we don't believe you. This is them saying whatever story it is that you told us that we're well aware you're
going to get away with, we don't buy it. So, I I I will just tell you when you talk about the the public whipping, when
you're on a suspension, you are not allowed to train. Now, I realize that nobody's ever actually been called on that, but your license status could be.
If you were to train Daniel, the coach that trains you per the rules could have
his cornerman license pulled. If you were to train Daniel per the rules, the person that works out with you can have
their license pulled. So, a suspension for 18 months, it it does come with a a
number of of things. There's a little bit uh more to it. And even though they're technical and they actually
haven't been called on, they could. that it opens the door to a bad situation if the testing agency on a human level
simply thinks that you gamed them. Yeah. Yeah. For sure. So, Joe, I've actually been on the whereabouts thing.
And guys, it's not easy to keep up with this whereabouts thing. Like on I've I've been two times before where I've
gotten in trouble. I've been three times where I' I've missed three. Chill. And I
have to give them my whereabouts, tell them exactly where I am because you just don't update it, man. You fill this thing out 3 months at a time. Do you
have no idea? You and I chill right now don't know what we're doing in 3 months. Hell, yesterday I just got a call that I
may have to go to Westland, right? If I'm doing my if I'm doing my whereabouts, I don't know that I'm going
to Westland. So when I am I going to go into that app and update that? No. So if they were to show up at my house, then I
would have missed that test. Right? So it is human error happens in those
situations. But when guys start doing it time and time and time again, especially
if they have a history of it or if you just don't believe them, then you start
getting those suspensions because USADA was always very reasonable in trying to
make sure the athlete didn't suffer. So will be this New Testament organization,
which by the way, what is the name of the New Testament organization? Like does any C A D A and I must tell you, I don't
know what it stands for. I assume that's anti-doping agency. I actually don't know. I actually don't know what the C
is. Daniel, I love your inter combat. Maybe it's combat. Is Is that what it is?
Daniel, I love your interjection and I I I love your full disclosure there. In your defense, you entered USADA for the
first time in 2004. You were a very poor guy. You were going online and having to
do dialup and www. I mean, I'm just suggesting for you, Connor has a team
and the worst part of that team is a lawyer. The worst educated has a degree
in Judas Prudence. I don't think they screwed up. I don't think somebody's going to be fired or reprimanded. I
think the team did their job. I think he he willfully avoided. I don't have evidence of that, but I I do suggest for
you that this isn't quite the same as an aspiring Olympic athlete or even a brand new guy on the roster that's trying to
do everything himself while his career is building and all of a sudden he's getting a media opportunity and he's he's got to be over here and then they
switch the hotel from the fourth floor to the fourth floor of which by the way it's that technical and you you've got to fill it in. Little bit of a different
situation. I'm just sharing I'm sharing my thoughts with you as somebody that that that's
kind of been through it. There is some egg on Connor here, but there's not a smoking gun. The egg is somewhat
limited, and I don't think it's something that he's probably ever going to speak on. It's not something that he's going to have to speak on.
He hasn't he hasn't he hasn't failed. He has not failed the test. He just missed him. And sometimes it's better to
just miss him and take that suspension, right, than to actually fail the test,
especially in his case when he's trying to headline the White House. But does this make you feel like he is going to
fight again? Does does this suspend? I don't know how that could lead to this question, right? A guy gets suspended
makes us feel like we will see him more. There's a more of a chance that we see him fight again than we did prior to him
getting suspended when in most cases it would make you go, man, we may never see this dude fight again. Suspension make
you feel like he's going to fight again. The one thing that is very challenging about this is the technicalities to the
rule that I don't expect anybody to know, but I've been through it. You literally cannot go into the gym. You literally cannot do a workout with a
coach. He can't come to your house and you're doing a MIT workout in the garage or they could sanction his license. So,
you have an athlete that's been removed for a number of years. Sadly, as human beings, we don't get better at something
by not doing it. You then have an athlete that's refound his motivation. He's even kind of got a finish line. He
sees the date. He's got something he wants to do and finds out that he's not even allowed to break a sweat. I I'm
just sharing with you in in in many ways it it is a wrap on the career, but it's not as though that's something that
Connor is going to come out and say. I feel that Connor has been retired from June 13th. The day they announced he was not going to fight Chandler, I felt was
was synonymous with saying Connor is never going to fight again. He's not going to have to say that he's going to be able to play this out. He's
going to be able to use the media and he will. But if we're being real as human beings, he's going to return to a main event. He's going to return to a five
round atmosphere. And he's going to do that off of an injury, a delay that allegedly includes not even training.
It's a very tough spot for anybody, even the great Conor McGregor. Yeah. But he's going to fight a guy in
Michael Chandler who will not have fought for a long time, too. I don't anticipate we'll see Michael again
before he faces Conor McGregor, which at that point he'll probably be 39, almost 40 years old. So,
are you giving me inside? When you tell me things as a guess, I know that you're armed with are you
I'm not you're guess you're speculating like I am right now or you're revealing something.
They just keep going back to that matchup. That's why I think it'll be Chandler, right? And also I was I was
asking Shawn Shelby whenever uh um somebody called out Michael Chandler recently and and I said he could never
fight Chandler. I go check he goes Chandler only wants big fights. He goes and he's earned it, right? He's he's
fought those the fights that he's fought. He's fun. He's exciting. And he's getting older and he just doesn't need the money. So, he's going to only
do things that matter to him. And I think the only thing right now that matters to him is fighting McGregor. So,
it just makes it. And I think McGregor also would want to fight Chandler because Chandler is going to fight him
in a way that honestly gives him a chance. Like Chandler's going to give him a chance by fighting him the way
that he's going to fight him. Because for everything that Conor McGregor is, a full-on psychopath. Did you see him last
weekend at bare knuckle fighting? He's legitimately telling the two guys that are about to fight in the main event,
he's gonna beat them both on the same night. I'm like, "Yo, you are you run this thing, bro. You run this thing.
You're supposed to be promoting these guys to fight each other to get eyes on it, but at the same time, you're telling
everybody how much they suck and that you're going to beat them up when you're the promoter." It's like, come on, man.
He in theory is signing the paycheck or at least got the ear to Dave Feldman who
is like they really can't puff up back to him. Mike Perry doesn't take that from anybody. Mike Perry's got to stand
there and take it. Right. It's like the one guy that can't do that to him chooses to do that to him. Daniel, can I
tell you a quick story? When I got a call, I'm I'm jumping back, but we're talking about failed drug test. When I got the call, now I knew this call was
coming. It's just a matter of the test coming through. When I get the call, it's my manager, Jeff, who can't believe
this jail. You're not going to believe I got a call from the Nevada Commission who got a call from Mousan. And here's what happened. And he tells me
ignorance. Do you faint ignorance or do you play Do you play along or do you go, "Hey man,
I'm sitting at a hotel in LA, straight across from the set of UFC Tonight. I have just got to the hotel and I've got
to go back the next day for the weigh-in show and I'm getting this phone call which I know the world as I understand
it just got caught in flames. No, but Daniel, there was such a relief. I knew
this call was coming for 30 days. This is day number 29. The phone call comes.
He gives me a list of what they found in my system. And then the phone goes completely quiet. He's waiting for me to
respond, which by the way, he thinks I'm going to deny and like rebuke this. I'm waiting him to finish because I knew
there should have been more things found in the system. So, it's one of these times in life like
the best thing you can do is come as clean as you can as quickly as you can
to the highest authority involved, which in this case was the Nevada State Athletic Commission. And he was
dumbfounded. He he just like he was just dumbfounded. Like, Jeff, I got to tell you, I I kind of thought you knew this.
You really had no idea. He's like, "No." He said, "You don't even drink. You're telling me that you're putting these I
Okay, chill. I'm going to have to call you back." I like, "Yeah, why don't why don't we Why didn't you call me back?" He kind of felt a little bad for him
because he's like a little disappointed. He's like, "God dang, man." Chill. Great guy. Great. He held me to a higher stand. I did feel
bad. I was dis that was a very embarrassing moment for me. Yes, that is so funny. Oh my god, that is so
funny. Hey, and then they test the B sample. Does the B sample ever come back different than the A sample?
Never. It always backs it, but they dangle this false like you better test my B sample.
Yeah. Like, well, we got this A sample, but we're still waiting on the results of the B samples. Like, it's going to say the same thing. Let me just let me
just tell you now and save everybody a couple of steps. You're hilarious, dude. Oh my god,
you're hilarious. Okay, J, speaking of Conor McGregor, he's to fight at 145.
That division is picking up, bro. So Diego Lopez looked phenomenal at Noce
UFC. Leon Murphy looked crazy against Aaron Pico and it seemed like Vog was
all in on that fight for the end of the year right away. But last weekend, Ysef Zal put it on Josh Emit. Dude, we've
seen Josh Emtt get beat before, but we've never seen him just kind of get walked through like
Ysef Zal did to him. not to count Mobsar of Loy who's won 17 or 18 fights in a
row. Then you also got Ya who was promised a title shot when he fought against Pitbull in Miami and said Hunter
Campbell promised me a title shot. I'm not fighting no one else. But you can't make that statement anymore when you got
Evoyv at one, Lopez at two, Yaier at three, Lauron at four, Al Jermaine at
five, and Ysef Zal at seven. All six of those guys can stake a claim for a UFC
title opportunity. How good is that? The the the UFC as a whole has never
been more difficult. I mean, we there was a time where we had have one guy on top, but I remember when Randy Couture
came through, but Randy was an athlete. He was an aspiring Olympian. In all fairness, Dana White is saying that this
is what's happening with Slap, that you start with people, but that it's going to evolve. You're going to have guys that had a cup of coffee in the NFL.
You're going to have guys that that did time in the UFC. You're going to have Olympians. You're going to have powerlifters. And that everything is
eventually going to evolve. And I will just tell you, there was a time in the sport that there was one or two guys.
And then the rest of them were a different caliber of athlete. But when you look at it now and all the
divisions, I know we're staring at 145, but I I I gave a good look to 185 and 205 yesterday. I could not believe how
many absolute studs there were. How many people have a very legitimate argument
to a number one contendership? We're seeing this at 155. Is it going to be Patty the Batty? Is it going to be Justin Gatei? The right guy appears to
be Serukian, but he took a fight with Dan Hooker, which came named as the number one contenders. And nobody's
arguing like that all makes sense. Every name that you just threw me, all six of those guys, they all sound like the
right answer for number one contender. Yeah, they do. But it's like, how do you
make a difference? And what do you have to do to stake your claim? Because Yousef Zal has been nothing short of
phenomenal. And now he really has earned an opportunity to fight one of the best. He said what frustrated him the most was
that Vog talks about everybody but never mentions him. I don't know. Like Yousef, I love you, dude. And I think that your
wrestling, his wrestling has gotten so much better. It's so crazy to watch him go from what he was to what he is today.
But why would Vulk have mentioned him when he was like number 11 or 12 in the rankings? Now he's number seven. He
starts to work his way into uh title contention. I believe now Vog will start
to mention his name. I'm trying to find my my pencil. Okay, here we go. And Daniel, let me just buy you a minute
while you're finding that pencil. The last time I mean kind of like in in the modern era that we went outside of the
top five was Shawn Strickland against Israel Oagna but that was short notice in Australia. The next time that we did
it Khalil Roundtree at number eight was given a title shot against Pierre but he he'd had five knockouts in a row. Not to
mention Uncle was already booked against Rach. There was a little bit more to it and and Usf's claims are all accurate
but there's two sets of rankings. You you got the top 10 but then you have the
top five. And the top 10 is very cool to someday tell your grandchildren, you know, get print in a magazine. If you want a title shot, you got to be in the
top five. And that's not an absolute policy, but it's pretty close. Aside from those two examples that I gave you.
So's there. He's just a just a his argument is not quite as strong as some of the other names. Specifically, Loron
Murphy. Lone Murphy is in a great spot because he's the one that Vulk responded to. By the way, how long do you need me
to ramble here? What do you I got it, bro. I got him. I got it, my brother. I don't know if you'll be able to see this, but so TV magic, right?
What happens in TV magic is I'm going to show you this paper. You will not see this paper, but by the time this comes
out, you will see the names across this because Jake and the whole crew at ESPN, the best crew in the game, will then
fill out the names. So, I will recite them as if you can see them. First off, the title fight for me has to be Luron
Murphy versus Vog. Oh my god. I I missed I missed uh I missed I missed the boy. I
missed the number one contender. And I think that's the problem with Avoy.
That's the problem with Avoy. I missed him. Ch. I actually did not put him on
the list. And I think that is why he doesn't get a title shot because people just aren't as interested as they should
be in a guy that's won as many times as he's won. So, let me just redo this. But yes, the title shot for me is Vault
versus Leone Murphy. Then I want to do I want to do Lopez versus Yair Rodriguez.
Do you remember when Diego Lopez and Yay Rodriguez were fighting when they weren't supposed to fight each other? They were fighting at press conferences
and stuff. I think that was Yaire. It's so it's so personal between those two
that they could fight that they could fight and people would
pay attention because of the history, but it could also matter because a win could potentially make them the number
one contender. Here's the problem with a Voy, right? Because he's not as known. I
would do a Voy versus Zal, right? So then you say, well, you left out number
five, Al Jermaine Sterling. I would do a Voya versus Zal because Zalo is a guy
that is on that big run. If he beats Aoy, he really puts himself in the place. But if Aoya beats him again,
let's just move him into a title fight, man. You can't deny a guy that's won that many times. What do I do with Al Joel? He sits as that backup fighter
because guess what? If Vulcanowski is about to fight against Leone Murphy and
one of them falls out, say Leone falls out and he needs to change opponents, Aljo is real enough as a former
champion, as a big enough name that if he just slides in, everything still
remains the same. It that's what I do. I go Vault versus Murphy with Aljo as the
backup fighter. I go Yaier Rodriguez versus Diego Lopez. You guys take care of that business that you have. Dude,
they're talking about families in Mexico. what they want to be fight each other. It was crazy. And then I'm putting the Voy in there with Yousef Zal
because hey, you've won all these fights, but you've been wrestling people. Zal now is very dangerous on the ground. Let me see you get through this
one. And if you go to 19 and0, I can't deny you. Just like they did with Hamza. Hamza went as far as he can go before he
got his title fight. So did um uh uh Ilia far as he can go without a title
fight. And I believe that Shavkar Rakmanov would have gotten his title fight had he not gotten hurt. You can
only go so far, Chale, before they have to give you a title fight. And I think if Loy get to 19, that might be the
number. All right. Now, I got to tell you, that was one of the great responses in diet tribes that you have given in
the history of this show, particularly to a question that was never asked. I never asked you what you thought about
145. I never brought up 145. What the hell was that all about? I mean, I appreciate it and it's all true. Why are
you talking about 145? Why'd you just match five different guys? Yeah, because dude, we were talking about Yousef Zal. You forgot like when I
asked you about him earlier. Were we talking about him? I asked you about him beating Josh Emit and you started talking about 155 and
170 and you you're excited about You're excited about the You just answered your own. I didn't ask
you about 145. I'm happy to talk about it. I I'm not sure why we did. No, I matchmaked it because I asked when
you getting that win. I was like trying to start the conversation, but you're excited about the product as a whole.
So, you told me how great 185 is, 155 is. So, at the end of the day, your job
was done. I just went and did what we were tasked with doing at that moment. But hey, I guess you put
over lightweight, you put over middleweight, you put over uh Well, there's a reason that you brought
up bulk and I'm just trying to figure what it I You want to know what I think it is? I think they're starting to give a little closer look to the December
card of which the main event hasn't been mentioned. I think you have inside information. I think you slipped up. I
think you just said something that you weren't. I think that you're foreshadowing December and Vulk. And I
love it. I just wish you'd bring me in on it. Why do you have to keep secrets? You and your fancymancy TV friends over
there playing your little games of golf while I'm sitting in the corner doing nothing. You and your fancy friends with
your fancy inside information. foreshadowing something. I wish. Hey, let me tell you something.
If they are going to announce Leone versus Vog and I foreshadowed it. I'm happy to be on the joke because I
believe that again Leone's won 16. How many How long can you go, Joe? Joe, how
long can you go before you get a title fight? Yeah, Kabib Kabib had won a whole bunch before he got his title fight,
but not necessarily in the UFC. The record in the UFC, just to tell you, is Morab and it was 10. However, after
seven, he was offered the title fight. It was against Aljo. After nine, he was
offered the title V. He didn't want Aljo. The the actual record is Morab, who had to do 10 fights before getting a
crack with ultimately Alien for the belt. How do you like that? How do you How impressed are you that I knew that?
Huh? I'm very impressed. Him and Max Him and Max Holloway both probably had like 10 though
because Max went a long way too before he got his. But yeah, don't give Don't forget about my boy the Blessed Express
who by the way just picked up golf. So yeah, maybe he can be. Yeah, Max just picked up golf. Chill. We're coming to
another end of a season of the contender series. I I got to tell you, man, I work the contender series a couple two to
three times a year, and I enjoy it because it's like a sprint, right? It's two hours, five fights. Guys go
absolutely crazy. Last weekend, though, we had a first. When you get into nine seasons of something and you got guys
like Jamal Hill and Shawn Ali and Jack Dela Matalena that have come off of this show, it's hard to think that there are
many first that are still out there. Last weekend, we had a first. Dana White, we had a fight between two kids.
Um I I don't know their names. Uh what is it? What is his name, Jacob? These two boys that were fighting last weekend, I thought it was crazy. It was
Adrien Luna Martinetti versus Mark Voligan or Voligan or something, bro.
was, "Dude, it was so brutal. This Russian kid, Mark, got cut so bad after
round one, which by the way, he won handily." Round two, Adrien Analuna
comes back and starts just kneeing him. Ch. You know when you grab a bag and you're just driving knees into the bag
and it's like, how did he not fall down? He took so many knees directly to the
body. He just kept fighting. I was sitting in that that that um break room saying, "If this goes to decision, this
will have been the greatest fight in Contender Series history by far." And one of the best fights I've ever seen.
It was so impressive that after the fight, Dana stands up out of his seat chill, walks directly over to the mix
zone, the interview session, tells Lawrence Senko, "I want to have a conversation." Picks up the red phone.
He goes, "I'm signing both of these dudes right now and I'm giving them each
$25,000 bonuses. You get five and five to buy on the contender series. I'm
giving them 25 grand bonuses." Jail. He took all the the He took all the
questions about whether or not they would get contracts away. So, they only had three guys at the end of the night waiting for a contract decision because
it was so good. What did you make of that? And what do you make of those bonuses for a contender series fight?
The whole thing was awesome. The whole thing was a feel-good moment. I mean, largely in the Contender Series, there's almost like your evil side that comes
through to see who's not going to be given the contract, like whose dreams are going to be dashed. It's it's very
interesting psychologically. This was a feel-good moment. It was very real. It was very organic to see Dana White the
fan. To see Dana White, the guy that still loves this product. I mean, not not for nothing's a very cool thing.
Laura gets to share that moment. These two guys, I'm not crying foul ball. That was an amazing fight. And perhaps I need
to rewatch it, Daniel. I had it the other way. Really? I got to rewatch it. I had it the other
way. And the only reason I I had it 2928 the other way. And the only reason I suggest that for you is when we look at
something as amazing as something that many people are talking to the level of Griffin versus Bonner and you you wonder
what do we do from here? Rematch. Quite possibly. I'm not sure. I'm not sure.
The world's not going to agree with me. This was a very close fight. It was very hard to judge. You had damage versus
volume. You had some top physician versus some some effort. All in all, it was a great fight. And can I bring up on
that contender series? Uh your your boy Rodriguez got through and I know there's a congratulation here for you. But
Daniel, I'm taking this victory lap with you. I was so happy to see him get that. You know, he he came through our our
latest season of the Ultimate Fighter. And even if if you were the coach and he was on your team, I felt involved in that experience. He was so good. He was
so tough. He was so good particularly with the hands, but he was a little bit undized. Yeah, very to see him be given
this opportunity after the effort that I watched him put into this sport. Congratulations to you, but I got to
tell you, I felt very proud as well. And him and Joseph had probably the closest, most competitive fight of the
season, right? Split decision your way. And then Joe ended up walking through the finals, right? So, the semi-final
ultimately ended up being the best fight uh between the two. But dude, I got the
job done. He fought his tail off chill. Do you remember in April I believe I told you he was moving out to my gym? We
built this team. This academy fight club was built around Immanol because I knew we would need to get in partners and
then Chapelene comes and Jeff and and Alex and so many guys now have moved
into train at the gym. But watching him go out there as the the guy the crown jewel of the team uh do what he did,
bro, it was amazing. I was so ch I almost started crying for him because I know it how hard it is for him and I
know how how much it's going to change his life. Dude's from Insanada, Mexico.
This dude knew that he needed to win and he was so heartbroken when he didn't win the Ultimate Fighter. But he also knew
Chale that going on contender series you have to fight a certain way. It's not just about going and getting a victory,
right? I've been on both sides of it. Chapelene fought the best fight of his career. Didn't get a contract because it
was more the guy was grappling. was wrestling. He's more ready today to fight in the UFC than ever, but his
performance wasn't impressive enough to get that contract. I hope that they are they will listen to this and give this
kid an opportunity. But then Tommy Gant, who's a guy that can dominate with his wrestling show, he's an all-American. He
was able to get a submission contract. Iman has tremendous hands. He was able to get the knockout contract. When you
go in the contender series, it's about showing out, man. whether you win or if
you lose in some cases, but you got to show out. And that's why Tuesday nights in Vegas, bro, are like something
different. And the preparation for a Contender Series fight, it's so nerve-wracking because you're almost
encouraging a fighter to go and fight outside of themselves. And you and I
both know Ch because we never did it. We were always valuing the victory, right?
as low risk to get the reward. So, if I
don't have to stand and trade with you, I'm not going to. You almost have to encourage that. When it goes against
everything that we stood for, that's like a that's a very nerve-wracking thing. I get more nervous when those
guys are fighting uh than anything I ever did. But, hell, we went 3 and 0 this year on uh season of the contender
series. So, very excited. Very accurate. Perform performance over outcome. A as an athlete, you need to
focus on the performance. Let the outcome take care of itself. And it's very hard to do. It's easy to say it's very hard to do.
Chill. You remember that wizard on the Wizard of Oz? I don't know what his name was. I'm off to see the wizard.
Yeah, he was just a wizard. He didn't have a name. He was just the wizard. Listen, chill. As I wrap this gamerock
versus Olivivera Saturday from Brazil. As I wrap this, chill. Come to Gilroy if
you want to see the wizard. You want your fight career to go next level. Come see the wizard. Chill. The wizard now
lives in Gilroy, California at the Academy Fight Club. I'll see you there. For Chel Sunn, I'm Daniel Corier. Enjoy
your weekend and enjoy the fights from Brazil. Peace.