On this episode of Good Guy/Bad Guy… Daniel & Chael react to the postponement of the UFC 303 press conference in Dublin …
say that to me again who’s boxing Anderson Silva and Cha Sonnen are doing a boxing match in Brazil 12 days before their Hall of Fame induction that’s crazy I I didn’t know that you didn’t know that no I had no idea who do you think wins first reaction boxing I would have to go with Anderson Silva on the boxing match yeah Dana thinks that because he is not armed with the information Daniel that I plan to cheat the bad guy ladies and gentlemen the bad [Music] guy what’s up guys welcome to a brand new episode of good guy bad guy I’m Daniel Cormier that is the bad guy chel sun and look guys we had a fantastic weekend of fights last weekend from Newark but before we can get into all that big news big news news broke over the weekend that the UFC 303 press conference between Conor McGregor and Michael Chandler has been postponed the UFC wrote in regards to this the UFC 303 press conference scheduled for Monday June 3rd in Dublin at the three Arena has been postponed until further notice we sincerely apologize to all the fans who are planning to attend when we have further information on a new date and time we will share it immediately thank you this has been one of the most anticipated press conferences in a long time but Saturday as we were getting done with UFC 302 Dana White spoke about the antics of Conor McGregor comparing him to Jon Jones in his prime and this is what he had to say we’ve seen in the past few days there’s been like some footage coming out of him having some fun in the clubs and stuff does any of that concern you like four or five weeks out from the fight uh well again you and I here we are we were talking about uh Jon Jones Jon Jones was doing a lot of that stuff too back in the day and many other Fighters throughout history uh I don’t know what’s real on the internet and what’s not real on the internet I don’t know timing wise and one of them he’s got a beard and one of them he doesn’t have a beard and I I have no idea I don’t know if any of that’s real or true or whatever but um you know Connor’s not a dumb guy and and uh you know this is obviously a big fight for him he’s calling it The the best comeback in the history of sports and and all that stuff so we’ll see what happens I’ll actually be with him tomorrow so I’m flying there right now so I I’ll I’ll I’ll see what’s going on you know the boss was anticipating going out to Dublin he said chill that he had not been back to Ireland since the McGregor versus Mayweather fight in their presser he spoke about how great it was was how the crowd was crazy Joe we’re talking about an arena that the UFC booked out 10,000 fans tickets sold five minutes this thing’s cancelled what was your initial reaction to hearing that the UFC wasn’t going out to Dublin for dis presser well and Daniel if I can let this breathe for just a second but I had a few thoughts on a personal experience which was oh no is the fight in Jeopardy that was my first thought but you know what Daniel all we can do is guess we’ve been given no information from either side I’ve reached out to my contacts at the UFC uh in the Press Chandler side McGregor’s side the only one that’s even getting back to me is Chandler side to let me know they don’t know anything and there’s no comment on the other sides now the reason I tell you that is in that situation of the UFC cancelling a press conference we now have every possible angle on the table but it has now been revealed if this is accurate by the way it’s a change but if this is accurate that Connor’s the one that canceled it and if we’re just making guesses and that’s an accurate statement that Conor canel it it does elim a few of your guesses for example I don’t think the fight is in Jeopardy I don’t think that a press release is going to give you some bad news followed by the worst news I think they put a press release out in reverse the fight is canceled and then at the very bottom subsequently press conference is off I I’m just sharing for you like from what I have right now I kind of don’t agree with a lot of the speculation partner I think perhaps Conor McGregor for the first time ever is starting to focus people love to use that word they talk about Focus I don’t know if people know what that means it means you say no a lot more more than you used to you’re looking at one thing and you’re telling people no when you’re getting these calls and don’t forget as we’re looking at the clues there’s one more big one which is Connor did not just cancel the Ireland press conference he canceled all media that’s already been agreed to leading up to this contest which makes me think quite possibly our Irish star is starting to focus you you’re doing it again man I I just you’re doing it again I felt and it was proven right the first time so it’s like you’re doing it again I I I told you you get so excited and you just believe and you believe and you believe and I tell you to stop doing that to yourself because eventually it’s gonna smack you in the face listen man tell I don’t I will let me be your friend and tell you start to brace yourself a little bit for disappointment I I don’t mean to be the bearer of bad news chill but let me tell you something about the UFC now Dana White will argue and scream at the media Dana White will give the media a hard time Dana White has no problem letting the media down chill you know who Dana White doesn’t like letting down the fans doesn’t like letting fans down and when the press conference was cancelled you saw people on Twitter people on Instagram speaking of having their travel being prepared to go and watch flying over to Dublin to watch op pressor that’s disappointment Dana White also doesn’t like letting them down and he tries to overd deliver four fans so to me it feels like this is a big deal look I have reached out to many in the organization to try to find out what happened and when everybody’s tight lipped as they are right now to me that tells me it’s a little worrisome CH I watched Charlie our guy at ESPN leave Newark on Saturday morning to fly to Dublin him and Ray they’re already there they’re in Dublin I watched lenee Breen Ridge who is the head of PR at the UFC as I’m going to the back of the Arena to talk to Islam Mev Fully Dressed to get on the plane to fly to Dublin Ireland for this presser when did they get the news that this was not happening it had to be after 1:00 am on Saturday because we were still getting done with the the the pay-per-view she clearly did not know that this was can at 1:00 a.m. on Saturday night she was on her way to the airport or to the to the private plane how most how they travel chill I feel it’s a big deal I feel it’s a little worrisome and I’m glad that you have your rose-colored glasses on but I don’t know if maybe you should kind of shine them up a little bit and start looking a little more clearly Daniel we don’t have all of the evidence that’s true if it is accurate that Connor unilaterally canceled all these things that does change what some of our guesses would be and it brings at least into the realm of of good possibility that he’s just focused and zero end on the fight we’ve seen a number of guys do this you’ve also got the other angle that was speculated a week ago when Connor’s out at the club that he’s doing nothing more than taking a page out of Ryan Garcia’s book and I just as I got to look at that I then have to guess what a professional press release would read and a professional press release would use the word canceled as opposed to postponed and that’s a very relevant word it’s a Relevant Word in the laws that we have in Nevada where this fight’s being contested in terms of refunding a ticket right the language and verbiage that gets used does matter there wasn’t a date to reschedule it there’s just something telling me that Chandler versus McGregor on the 29th is still a go I mean I hope it is CH nobody wants to go off more than I do I just know that I’m worried about it now you said Focus right you’re saying focus is the buzzword for Conor McGregor when you look at his socials and you look at what he’s been doing in the preparation it looks like he’s locked in but he’s also doing other things let’s take a look at just Connor’s preparation and how he sorry no video on this but I’ve taken a look at Conor’s preparation and I watched him doing the McGregor fast I watched him working in his speeding agility I’ve watched him sparring he seems to be locked in but chill there’s smoke here here man because I can’t imagine that if everything was good he wouldn’t have let him know a little bit sooner hey man you guys cancel these flights let’s let’s let the people know that we’re not doing this I I don’t know for a fact we’re all guessing chill we’re all guessing but can I ask you this does there come a point where an athlete gets in Camp and goes I really don’t know if I just want to deal with any of this and then ultimately does that attitude roll over to fight we can going I don’t need this anymore I don’t really want to fight I don’t have to I got to ask the question Jill I gotta know uh and I know I might be being a Negative Nancy but does that come a point in that camp where kind of goes yeah I don’t know if I want to do this it’s it’s very interesting because it’s definitely a possibility the reason I heads away from that is just because I believe Connor would have given all the news at once I just don’t think he’d trickle it in if the UFC were in charge of this press conference I’m quite sure they’d start with the worst news which is the fight on the 29th is off I mean they get down to the very bottom there’ll be a little Aster that says all press has been canceled I mean I I’m just sharing right sold tickets to a press conference you don’t have three times in history where that Paradigm has happened and we looked at what happens if you have to rewind it because none of the three that have done it before ever got rewind so there there is a a number of moving Parts in this situation Daniel if I may tell you one other thing when they announced ounc that they were going to Ireland to do the press conference that was on the heels of a two-day prior Announcement by Conor McGregor that said I have two fights left on my contract and we are now renegotiating the reason that was interesting is generally that’s done when there’s one fight left Connor’s had several renegotiations in his own career he always did it when there was one fight left but two days later it announces they’re going to Ireland which would be like every Fighter’s dream a soldout press conference you get all the fun all the excitement all the attention oh by the way you don’t have to throw any punches like it would have just been a great time so was that good faith by Dana White to let Connor know I’m still in the business of promoting you I’m still going to make you big and you’re going to have great experiences or did they more likely have almost a verbal uh type of agreement where things were were really coming together and I I say that to you because when this did get canceled what does it mean more long term if Conor McGregor does not fight Michael Chandler on June 29th which I think he’s going to if he doesn’t I would go a step further as to tell you that will the announcement of his retirement this right now today is the day where you use illness and injury those are the two favorite excuses from Fighters but they were even putting out doctors reports and x-rays this would be the time that all of a sudden your shoulder isn’t feeling well this would be the time and who would question Conor McGregor considering he’s coming off a fractured injury but he didn’t choose to do that he kept his mouth shut he said I’m I I’m not going to do it I’m just sharing for you I this this announcement is a lot bigger than whatever ends up coming I think the fight’s going to be fine and we’re going to get an explanation for the cancel of the media if that’s wrong I don’t think there’s a cancel or a postponement of a fight I think that would be the announcement of the end of a career you know I was thinking about this when I got this news right and I’m talking to uh the heads of our show and the people that we answer to at ESPN and I start to wonder aoud questions about if Conor McGregor because make no mistake about it chill like you said the reason this is off is because Conor McGregor called it off Michael Chandler would drag himself there with no legs to get to that presser Michael Chandler would fight Conor McGregor on one leg to fight Conor McGregor Michael Chandler looks forward to ending his career in this fight but I also know that there comes a time where the athlete thinks differently CH I will ask you this question who needs this fight UFC 303 who needs this fight I will tell you who needs this fight Michael Chandler needs this fight I will tell you ESPN needs this fight ESPN needs this fight because ESPN needs this fight because of UFC 301 UFC 303 is great UFC 301 very bad 302 hopefully is very good but you need it for that right so ESPN needs the Conor McGregor fight the UFC wants and needs the Conor McGregor fight you know who doesn’t need the Conor McGregor fight Conor McGregor he’s the only one in this whole equation who does not need it and when you do not need it at times the motivations will shift I will tell you I supposed to fight at UFC two no no UFC 197 or something or n where Max Holloway beat uh Brian artega for the interim Championship it was supposed to be me and Anthony Rumble Johnson in the main event right I’m in training cha and I can recall fights where I heard my hands so bad I can barely punch they give me a quarter Zone shot oh you knee shot they give me a quarter Zone shot or whatever it took to get me to that fight I was willing to do it I’m I’m training I kick someone at an odd angle I tear ligament in my calf right now chill it’s very painful it’s very painful but it’s my right leg so which is my back leg I’m not in any danger of anyone kicking that leg but I’m three weeks from the fight I’ve got a ton of weight to lose I’m exhausted I’m fatigued I go to the doctor he tells me there’s a tear in my in my calf I immediately think to myself okay well I’ve got money I’ve got my belt I can push this back some and I don’t know if we’re not in that type of situation or maybe there’s like a small thing in training and you start to kind of rethink everything like man I don’t know if I really need to do this right now so I I’m just and again I’m just giving you thoughts from a Fighter’s perspective audience I just don’t know what it is that’s playing into this because I know that when I fought those fights prior to becoming the man I would do anything to get there but when I was the man and I didn’t really need it as much if got I got the door the one time I got it I took it and I waited another five months I’m happier to fight this fight in April than in November and so I took that as an option now Conor’s not the champ chill but when we talk about Conor McGregor he operates on an entire different planet than everyone else right from the money to the fame to the expectation the belt to Conor McGregor doesn’t matter wins and losses when it comes to Conor McGregor doesn’t matter so we’re talking about a level of not needing something much greater than anything we’ve ever seen before and Daniel I’ll tell you this and I loved everything you said and you’re being very fair very uh measured and reasonable even if I have a little bit of a different idea I will tell you I get where you coming from now a man will live his life by a code and that code might not be in line with standard societal policies or even laws but he will adhere to that code at all costs and one of Connor’s codes is the show must go on when he was broken in half in his last fight and Joe Rogan I don’t interview injured guys we got to get you on a stretcher Connor called him over and pulled him down to the match Joe sat down to do that interview why cuz we’d yet to fade the black and roll the credits and The Show Must Go On I happen to be with Conor McGregor when Jose Aldo pulled out and Chad Mendes got stuck in we’re on the campus of ESPN doing some media I was there when Connor took the call and couldn’t have possibly cared any less of the opponent change because the show must go on and I just don’t believe that a month in advance whether it’s illness or injury or any other excuse that Connor is going to be the one to pull it would change the code that he must as a human being fiercely adhere to but I will tell you this there will be no postponement of this fight they either fight on the 29th or we move on oh and by the way the show’s still going to happen I believe Connor is going to be opposite Michael Chandler I’m very confident in telling you that however if he’s not Michael Chandler versus max Holloway for the BMF is the fight to book I I hadn’t even thought about that but that that would be an option because I’m G tell you one thing if and I gosh I hate saying this because I don’t want to be that guy but if he doesn’t show you’re gonna need something really big because like boxing chill normally you get a fight card that isn’t littered with star power and that’s what we have at the end of the month this fight is built around the return of Conor McGregor so let’s see what happens I mean I lot of speculation not many answers but I guess we will get that in the next few days for the record guys we reached out to Michael Chandler asked him to come on the show there’s some he I think Mike made the right decision by saying I can’t do it right now because he doesn’t know exactly how he will approach this but when he will be ready to speak he said that he will come on the show and let us know uh what’s going on and what happened but chill we got him go backwards a little bit to last weekend look man UFC 302 was a fight card that many had high expectations for I can say as the guy sitting next to the Octagon I did not love the entirety of the card a lot of decisions did not seem like the fighters were the it didn’t produce the results that we thought but at the end of the day Dustin porier fought a really good fight against Islam Mev Sean Strickland and them had a great fight that’s all we’re talking about because that’s what fighting is about the main fights have to deliver and everything else becomes just white noise after the fight Dustin porier talked to Joe Rogan and said this might be it then he sat got to the back of the arena and talked to Megan to leie this is what he told her about his performance I’m not sure after the gate fight was a big test for me in in my personal growth um practicing mindfulness and and practicing gratitude cuz I said it yesterday or whatever the other day with you without gratitude nothing’s ever enough and my cup’s full my family’s good I have my health they have theirs I mean I’m chasing dreams I’m living the life that I’ve you know that I could have only imagined as a kid just by chasing my dreams you know I came upsh short tonight and it hurts bad cuz like I said I know I’m not not going to get another chance you know I’m probably not going to get another chance to be the Undisputed world champion and that meant a lot to me um and even in the fight number one pound-for-pound guy defending champion on a 13 fight win streak I felt like every time I got off the stool I was going to win I felt like every time I got the St I was going to find a way to win and uh that’s fighting that’s fighting you know chill very rarely does your stock rise in defeat for Dustin porier losing in this fashion was the best case scenario now there are some great Fighters that have passed through the UFC we have seen guys like Alexander gusterson we have seen guys like the Korean zombie we’ve seen guys so many great Fighters that never became UFC Champion Dan Henderson Joseph Ben aidz Kobe Covington Uriah Faber fought for the belt all these times all these great guys that that fought for the title but never truly got it when you look at this list do you believe Dustin sits a top it as the best fighter to never hold Undisputed Championship yeah man I’ll play along with this Undisputed little elitist Club business I will tell you as the average person me and everybody else watching aside from you we don’t care what comes in front of champion man we don’t care if it says featherweight Champion lightweight champion heavyweight champion that’s in their these guys’ mind we don’t care that it said intrum world champion we don’t care that BMF and some of these other things that were up to grab I mean two of Dustin’s last three fights have been for title fights I will just share with you if you were to Great Dustin porier he gets an A in every column his boxing was an a his kicking was an a his defense was on point his conditioning everything about that Islam got an A+ and I only share that with you when a guy’s on his way out when we call for guys say hey you can’t do this anymore it’s not the outcome that bothers us it’s the performance and I’m only offering for you Dustin is not offering that yet he is not offering negative performances and when Dustin says I don’t want to climb the mountain again at 155 he is alerting the division he’s alerting the rankings and the matchmakers feel free to move on to this Vision without me but what he’s really telling the audience is when you go to the internet and you voice your opinion on my next opponent include 170 include a catchweight at 165 I’m now open I’m going to that rare island of star like like mzad doal like McGregor like anybody with the last name of Diaz right there’s only a few people that have gotten over there where they can do really big fights even though they don’t affect the rankings and with the division for a championship Dustin wants to be on that island and frankly I think he’s a star I think he belongs there like if I was to tell you that we could get Dustin versus Colby Covington together it wouldn’t be for a title it wouldn’t affect the rankings but would you like that fight or not Daniel I think we bring an arena to their feet telling me that’s a good good idea yeah you I mean you could put those guys in the main event you know how hard it is to Main Event pay-per-views with no belt on the line but those types of names you know Dana White saying Dustin can stay here as long as he wants is very telling because not everybody has that Runway to essentially make your career stay However long you want want and do whatever you want Dustin porier has that Dustin porier is saying it might be over four me but stopping Rogan short or anybody short of being definitive in that statement tells you that there’s a big part of him that knows that the end isn’t right now I think what he is doing though is also telling you it’s GNA cost a lot to get me back in there you want me back in there you’re gonna have to pay me because he can’t go from making Conor McGregor money to Islam Mev money to fighting for something that he doesn’t feel will be worth this time I believe that we will see Dustin porier again I hope that we see Dustin porier again because I don’t know that he’s ever been better chill he was better Saturday than he was in a benois s the ne fight he defended takedowns much better Saturday than I anticipated him to be able to take uh defend takedowns against Islam mateev he was in the fight look man I’ll say this there was a judge that had the fight card 2 to2 going into the fifth I thought it was 3-1 at minimum for mahv I thought his controls and his striking uh was good enough to put him ahead in the fight but Dustin por has nothing to be ashamed of many thought that he would get wiped out he did not he fought well he fought hard and he had the champion telling him I’ve never been through this I’ve never experienced this as a professional fighter that is a big deal and Dustin pory Ain showed once again why he’s one of the greatest lightweights that we have seen you know he will leave behind a legacy of fun fights big Power and star quality and part of that star quality is Ulta McGregor Holloway and all those great athletes that he shared the octagon with man he’s very gracious uh in defeat as he always is but it’s hard whenever you don’t have that goal that really is your motivating factor for so long but hell Alexander vinoski already was like hey put me and Dustin porier together that’s a fight I’m tapping into every day of the week chill yeah I love it I thought that was great by both guys I mean vul’s in kind of a weird spot where vul has told us all I want an immediate title shot I want to take a break and we we just can’t bring those two ideas together so it looks like Max and toore we kind of moving on but then what do you do with vul hey I like the idea of him changing weight class going up to 55 starting to get some parody starting to have those guys that I talked about that are on this rare Island of just stars that make really big fights I love every piece of this idea I will tell you this Daniel many guys retire and many guys say I don’t want to do this anymore and the number one reason they retire is not what they said or even what the fans think the number one thing that they’re stepping away from they don’t want to do anymore is to beat the scale the day before most careers in this sport end because they don’t want to do the way you’ll even have guys who go to practice every day they come to the events they’re still involved but they say I don’t want to live the lifestyle what they’re saying is I don’t want to have to make weight anymore and I’m only bringing that to you because Dustin porier a lot like Alexander gson just to use a name that you’ll recognize really had a different experience in this sport than everybody else like all Gus did was five round Main Events and when Gus wanted to retire it’s like no wait a minute Gus you don’t have to retire just start doing three rounders like everybody else that’s a 70% reduction it’s going to feel like retirement but it’ll get you nice and fresh in there and I just bring that to you because I think there is another way for Dustin to do it I don’t know that he always has to cut that way to that’s what’s bothering him and he’s able to identify it I don’t know if he has to leave the sport as opposed to every fight he has as a five rounder when he goes into the three rounders Daniel it’ll feel like a whole new sport to him it’ll feel like he’s taking a day off absolutely and T you know I agree that interim Champion he’s the champion you he got that moment right he got that moment in the Octagon where Dana White walked in there and strapped the championship belt around his waist as did Justin gate and all those other guys so I get it man I I am not one of those guys as I’m fighting with my microphone that is Elite in regards to Undisputed it’s fine but y I have to ask you this and I don’t know if it’s fair to you to ask this question but I want to know it because you guys’s experiences were so different Dustin got close in the sense of he got there but you got close and you got moment from becoming the world champion Dustin ultimately he struggled in those moments right because he fought for the world title four times outside of the max Holloway fight and he lost those fights by finish and this is just me calling it as it is but when you’re that close chill how do you deal with ultimately having to come to the realization that it didn’t happen and it won’t happen especially in Dustin pore’s case yeah hey and I’ll go I’ll go one step further which is the guys that got him were the guys from the same gym I mean right you have a debate for who the greatest 155 pounder is and it’s between king khabib or the heira parent to the throne Islam and I’m just saying like those are the two guys to beat Dustin the two that are allegedly the greatest ever I mean what what a timing issue you run out khabib’s career hey a great way Daniel to make Olympic teams the great way to win World Championships over the guys that are better than you is to outlast them go one more cycle go go a couple more fights than they do a great way to eliminate them and I’m only telling you Dustin did that but the air apparent to the very guy that gave him the big problem and khabib he runs into again and I think that it’s a great piece of the story actually I’m sure today it hurts Dustin a little bit but in the future and what that team and that club is going to do in the name and honor of the late great coach nag off rest his soul I’m just sharing it’s gonna be something special and Dustin pory is going to be a part of that story and what that will mean to him I’m not sure but I can tell you what his name means to those guys I can tell you it meant enough that khib got on an airplane and came to the corner and said no watching at home and sending you a text the day before isn’t enough this is a special opponent I know him better than anybody they respect Dustin porier and yeah we’re fighting for championships and we’re fighting for money but we’re also fighting for respect of our peers and that Dustin has in Spades you know CH he has a ton of that look man we could talk Dustin por for all day long but ultimately we started this show with Conor McGregor and the presser being uh cancelled we will speak about the champion Islam MV on Thursday because Islam deserves his flowers and Islam will get those flowers and we’ll have a lot of time for him this weekend butel McGregor heard you and he just tweeted this in consultation with the UFC today’s press conference was cancelled due to a series of obstacles outside of our control I apologize to my Irish fans and fans around the world for the inconvenience and appreciate all your passion and support I cannot wait to put on the greatest show the greatest of alltime show in the Octagon this was Conor McGregor only moments ago so chill you’re right he is still fighting and it is much less than maybe I played into it I would be very curious listen something is going on here I mean you’re dealing with one of the great magicians ever one of the great entertainers right and like all you’re always looking at this hand so you don’t see what this hand is doing I don’t know what Connor’s up to and frankly maybe it’s not that devious maybe just something came and he said look we got to start doing this but I am curious and I do think whatever it is he’s going to turn it into a show he’s going to turn into a spectal I think it’s going to end up being a lot of fun well the fight’s going to be fun you know like I said earlier I want nothing more than this fight to go off and I hope that this news softens the blow and ultimately it leads to these guys being locked inside of an octagon but I will tell you this Michael Chandler told me personally technical fill which is a 15-point wrestling win and a pin he said he wants to be up 15 and pin Conor McGregor that’s how dominant he intends to be when they get locked in the yagan on June 29th I me those are big words from Iron Mike hopefully we can have him on the show this weekend guys catch chill and I every Monday and Thursday wherever you get your podcast ESPN MMA YouTube ESPN 2 I’m the good guy I guess chil’s the bad guy which is absolutely true and when you’re Al two days a week we’ll catch you guys on the next one peace