Teddy Atlas joins the UFC 290 Pre-Show to preview the #UFC290 matchups of Alexander Volkanovski vs. Yair Rodriguez and …
the crazy Hawaiian welcome to powerslab was it everything that you wish you hoped your first appearance would be I mean we’re always trying to get that knockout in but um Micah is I really try to knock him out and that guy stood there and did not flinch took my he ate my so big UPS to him but nobody ever done that at least with me ate my like that so he’s uh he’s a big eater you definitely had a lot of respect for him going into this match do you have even more respect for him now oh I mean I said the same respect that I I don’t think I respect him anymore um That’s my boy and wife again I try I really try to knock him out KOA you and I talked during powerslap one you were here for powerslap too being a part of this how have you seen just in this short time the progression has you been doing this a long time the production the crowd the energy inside this building the progression overall with your experience how how have you seen it sort of just continually progress under Dana’s watch is scary really really like I always dreamed of it you know when I first started somebody who once told me that there was no money in it I can’t pay you right now um oh we prove them we prove them wrong so sorry I lost my voice every time I turn on the crazy Hawaiian I lose my voice so I’m gonna have to turn them off right now but uh the production is like no other um come on I look at all you the first one was just like five people and now we got a whole bunch so everything’s falling into place this is God timing God’s timing always why didn’t you switch uh to the left hand in the third round I really feel like I needed to give him something else you know after doing in my right my right twice I really felt like man he’s eating my right like nothing you know and it was kind of worrying me and my left like like my brother a lot of people don’t know he’s a right-handed uh Striker but he uses his left and to knock on to knock out slap for cash and I get you I use my left on the last round hoping to do the same but uh is the first promotion allowing you to do it so I tried it I saw you look up to him were you actually saying should I do it is that what you were asking him oh um I was actually asking my brother in the crowd yeah should I do it you know and he was like if you want to so I really wanted to and uh he ate that man it was unbelievable do you feel like uh you’ve established a name for yourself now after that fight like that uh you’re the guy you know there was a lot of hype around your debut do you feel like you established a name now with that win I mean a lot of people have to do their research about me um Michael was probably the toughest opponent I had so far um and uh I just I just feel like this Sport’s not going to go nowhere um it’s just going to keep going up and up and they hate for the sport is what’s going to drive it to to be one of the best sports to statistically for anybody to get paid you mentioned that he was your toughest opponent did friends with him playing yeah he called me up this morning he said hey I’m eating locomoto right now what are you doing I said leave me alone God damn it for one day so I can hate you so I can actually put some hate behind my strikes and he said okay bet I got your Mac salad though and I was like are you are you claiming you’re going to lose right now because I’m uh I’m gonna get that Max early anyway um but yeah it’s hard to go up against somebody that picks me up from Vegas every time I land you know it’s really hard but I really really I don’t know if you guys notice it but I really try to knock his ass out and he just ate it are you guys gonna go out and celebrate after this absolutely question over here right over here hey how you doing and congrats on the win by the way so um obviously you’re fighting one of your friends and one of your uh combatants uh so the mental aspect obviously you’re in the heaviest weight class one strike could be game over I mean both of you guys generate the most power uh what’s the mental aspect to stay in the Box keep your hands behind your back stay do not flinch like what’s the mental aspect before he’s about to hit that uh hit that slap don’t be a straight the up don’t be a if you want to do this sport and if you think you’re gonna Flinch because I mean close your eyes I don’t know just take that eat that if you don’t then uh you might not be able to Champion like you know do some neck workouts or some I don’t know thank you very much aloha um I know you guys wanted to you know put on the show for the fans but I think they still loved it were you good would you feel good at the end of your performance that you were able to go these hard rounds I mean I I was disappointed initially you know um we need maybe like two or three more rounds I think one of us would have you know 99 sleep so um just wait give me some Russians give me some South Africans give me somebody else Brazilians and somebody else other than somebody in the U.S I don’t think there’s anybody in the U.S that can be me so uh let’s let’s let’s Branch out how’s that we’re branching out the location uh taking it back to you know one of the islands obviously I would love for this to be a an island thing um because we got some bangers like me they call me a couple weeks ago and I came right off the couch ready to slap whoever any at any time so you know that being said like feed me my opponent give me somebody that looks badass give me some of his big and bad somebody anybody you with your brother being in with your brother being in the same division and if they bring a title to the super heavyweight division what’s the plan there like are you gonna let him go for the tower you can go for the title like what’s up I told him we need to sit back and watch because eventually we might need to go over against each other for the sport obviously that would be really hard even a lot harder than any fight I’ve ever been but it’s just it’s a sport I I’ve done this because I knew it was going to turn into a sport somebody said uh that’s not a sport yeah it’s not fighting you can’t go out there and slap somebody they’re not going to sit there and let you slap them but it is a competition and it is a sport I mean cornhole is a sport come on now congratulations thank you if they uh bring power slap to the islands who would you want to fight honest honestly I would have to try and see like what kind of MMA legend or boxing Legend but I’ll take on whoever anybody Maybe I mean who’s fat and big in Hawaii I don’t know I want that that guy from loss you know uh there’s always Big Island energy in the crowd for these power slap events is there anything you want to say to the people watching back home I’m sorry they only give me a few tickets but I was trying to get the Hawaiians to come up in the parking lot and storm this like the capital thank you congrats on your win thank you foreign