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um here curious I mean you know these events that on Fight Pass they feel a bit bigger every time your thoughts on the event and and tonight as it went yeah I thought it was great uh you know the Fight Pass team that I have talked a lot about you know how you know just from my insights to competing in Jutsu for so long how we can kind of you know improve the events just little things here and there and uh you know they’ve listened to a lot of the things that that we talked about and things that I’ve said and I think every event that’s just gonna get better and better and better and The Kinks will be worked out as we go on and uh you know it’s going to be it’s gonna get serious um that this event was the crowd’s amazing I think we could definitely do a bigger crowd next time because uh you know we’re selling out they’re selling out every event there’s not that many people but every event now is selling out and uh you know the rules I think it’s cool if they have like a hybrid rule set where they have like it’s not all ebi rules and they like rounds and they did a judge’s decision uh and they had Romans match one to a draw so I think they’re gonna uh I think implementing the ebi rules and maybe ADCC rules and judge decisions I think it’s unique in the fact that it’s not just one rule set across the board whereas if you know ebi has just one rule set who’s number one has just one rule set um and you can kind of tailor the rule sets to the athletes um where like eight uh UFC athletes don’t really practice ebi roles that much so you know around uh you know 10-9 decision is a little bit better and more comfortable for them so I think it’s really cool what they’re doing with that uh listen we’re in MMA Centric media core here so obviously it feels big to us when it’s on Fight Pass but for you and someone who’s involved at the highest level of the sport when it is on this platform do you feel like oh we’re getting newer eyes to the sport of jiu jitsu for sure the whole thing is just to take the the average MMA fan which is already involved in combat and just to convert him to a jiu jitsu fan and then you know that’s better for everybody it’s you know it’s better for us as athletes it’s better for the sport of the whole there’s more eyes in the sport and then uh you know you convert a UFC fan into a jiu jitsu fan and now you have more people going to seminars you have more instructionals uh being solved and you can convert your average MMA fan into uh into uh an instructional DVD or a private lesson and it just the bigger the sport is the better it is for the athletes better is for everybody and I think the UFC is doing a great job at a really you know going uh and taking grappling seriously and getting into the sport uh final for the tournament you know you were there you’re shouting instruction how did you feel both athletes performed and where did it go right for guys and where to go wrong for that I think it was really surprising uh that both guys are guard players but neither guy wanted to play guard I think that Felipe had a pretty good strategy coming out and trying to pull on the head and get correct hired because Craig notoriously has a pretty terrible gas tank uh but the round was only 12 minutes Craig purposely uh negotiated a shorter time so it’s kind of hard to completely exhaust a guy in 12 minutes if you’re wrestling and hand fighting isn’t isn’t high level um and then you know Craig is very experienced on their ebi rules so not much really much happened in the regulation Craig picked up a few singles and not much happened neither guy played bottom position so it’s kind of just a boring wrestling match um and then tightly contested overtime match uh where Craig edged it out on uh on ride time which doesn’t really surprise me because Craig has you know a lot of time training with us doing ebi rounds and he’s competed a bunch of times in ebi whereas Philippe is more of like a traditional ibgf ADCC kind of kind of athlete so um yeah not much really happened but I’m not really I would have been I wouldn’t have been surprised if Felipe one and I also wouldn’t have been surprised if Craig won so elsewhere Nikki Rod won and uh made a very public call out of you I’m not sure if you managed to catch that call out or if you’re heading to the back did you hear it uh no but I got the I got the gist of it I mean everybody wants a Payday right um so me and Nikki Raul compete again for sure but it’s going to be in a tournament where he gets no relevancy off my name and he doesn’t make any money for losing to me a third time in a row um so uh so yeah I mean I’m sure I’m sure we’ll compete again but uh you know he’s like oh I want to fight some you know he’s trying to make the rules like you’re a brown belt you won a random tournament you couldn’t even be like you barely beat Roberto Jimenez the guy I called my submission I’m like hey I’m gonna go out and hit him Mount that armbar went out and hit him mounted arm bar you barely beat that guy and he’s 40 pounds lighter than you um so you don’t call the shots and uh you’re not making any more money off my name so I’ll compete against him for sure um there’s gonna be another time you know a time in the future where we will compete like ADCC and uh that’ll be me just going out and embarrassing him again and uh he won’t get any recognition uh or money from losing to me because you have to understand when guys compete against me they make two to three times as much as they usually were competing elsewhere so Nikki Rod has literally no money so calling me out is the easiest way to actually make some money and move out of my sauna and actually buy himself a house or you know rent an apartment or whatever he wants to do so uh yeah and I figured that was coming because you know that team relies on just the relevancy of me and talking about me to stay rather themselves so I’m not really surprised that happened and coming off of the performance that he had like just doing nothing uh not being able to take down Roberto like not doing anything to Roberto in a regulation barely winning overtime not really doing anything of significance with Wagner having like a pretty tightly contested overtime until he strangled them then getting his arm broken by Dan who’s a purple belt and then wanted to call me I was like dude just stop just that’s just a joke I’m assuming you weren’t to uh impress them with his specification that you saw that needed to be involved and you both had to pass you started testing before and after the any potential competition well first of all uh no because uh steroids are not illegal in Jitsu number two I actually have a uh uh a contract coming to Nikki Rod um for usada and water testing from now until the next ADCC so interesting to see if he’s gonna sign that um but uh yeah like uh like I said um I make the rules I name the time I name the place I name the rule set because I’ve earned that because I actually can win matches like Nikki Rod winning three matches in a row is actually impressive because like he’s literally never done it before so it’s actually impressive that he actually has won three matches in a row now he has slightly more wins now well then he has uh we used to have half as many losses as he has wins now he has a little he’s the ratio got a little bit better tonight um still has a a 40 submission rate because ebi rounds don’t count when you actually do statistics um so yeah if you actually follow statistics he sucks I nearly thought you’re going to congratulate him on improving but we took a left hand I mean what are they really have proven first of all they so they have the long save rash guards now so they have to implement the no roll-up rule because Nikki Rod just took the rash guard and rolled it halfway up his arm because he doesn’t actually want to do Jiu Jitsu he just wants to break rips install and they just stall to overtime is overtime is like decent um he has explosive escapes and he can punch strangles in relatively well um but if you actually look at his Jiu Jitsu during the regulation he like literally doesn’t know a single move like he like hit a bike body lock pass on Dan and you know and do that if he locks his hands but other than having a body lock what she learned from me uh because I would just body lock pass him repeatedly every time we trained um he literally doesn’t know a single move besides that and last one for me you know I think we could probably guess where your mind’s at with this but you know Craig Jones done a podcast Nikki Rod wins tonight the relationship between you and those guys has probably never been worse or is it just the same as your opinion that they’re just trying to get Cloud off your name and you don’t need to care about them uh no I mean you guys are going to ask questions and I’m happy to answer them uh but you know I think what happened that ADCC was pretty clear like the team split you know a lot of the top guys went over there um and you know we came home with three Golds uh and a bronze and uh and a silver and they didn’t win a single gold so everyone’s like oh man Gordon has no training Partners who is going to train with now and I just showed up and destroyed everybody and uh then everyone’s like oh man maybe uh maybe it was the wrong decision um so yeah uh it’s uh you know they you know they’re going to win like you know local stuff like this and you know they’ll beat the guys that are up and coming guys um and you know it maybe even beat some of the guys who already seeing their list and champions but uh you know there’s a big difference between an ADCC champion and Gordon Ryan hey Gordon um all over the news past month month and a half um I mean do you get flattered that that everyone talks about your body and and you know how skinny you were and and now how you’re getting healthy and you’re getting back up like is it flattering or is it annoying it’s just amazing to see the level of intelligence of the of the average Instagram commentary it’s like the only place worse I think than Instagram has maybe Reddit and YouTube like those are like the top three like dumbest people I’ve ever had to interact with um so yeah I I was like I was like you know sitting around like 220 225 pounds uh before my surgery um I wasn’t able to lift because my I strep throat and I was sick I wasn’t training um and then I lost like 20 pounds that week of every week after surgery because I couldn’t eat I couldn’t really drink anything I was you know taking IVs because I had my tonsils taken out uh so I lost like 20 pounds but then the second I started eating I went right back up to like 225 and you know now I’m actually eating pretty well because I’m not on antibiotics anymore and my stomach’s doing okay and so now I’m like getting big and I’m starting to lift again and I don’t I’m not doing Jiu Jitsu so when I do Jiu Jitsu and I’m doing Jitsu twice a day it’s hard for me to get big because I’m doing cardio all day well now I’m just lifting weights and eating food so now I’m actually able to get big so now I’m like 240 so I’m like you know 10 pounds heavier 15 pounds heavier than I normally and but that’s because I’m not doing Jiu Jitsu again yet because I still have to wait for my nose to heal um so it’s like a pretty standard like if you actually like think about it for like more than 10 seconds you would like be like oh that may actually make sense but people are just like oh man you see what happens see what happens when he’s not on steroids I’m like no I just like had a surgery and I was dying for for two months how is your stomach oh it’s doing a lot better it’s not not 100 it was doing really good until uh until I was on 45 days of antibiotics for a strep throat I did like four rounds of antibiotics because they couldn’t cure their strep throat uh so I kind of relapsed a little there and then uh I had a hard time swallowing pills after the surgery so I had like stopped taking all my stomach medication for like a week or 10 days but now that I’m back on now I’m doing a lot better uh you know still not 100 for sure I have my days where I’m still nauseous but it’s uh significantly better than it was um you know when I when I wasn’t competing um and you know once I get back into training and I get you know the timing back and everything and I’m back in competition shape if my stomach stays like it is right now at least I’ll definitely be ready to compete relatively soon do you have a kind of a date I’m shooting for uh flow has a uh has an October show so I’m gonna try to do one of the flow grappling October shows as like a warm-up match to come back and then I know that uh you know the Fight Pass invitationals is happening here again December I think 14th or 15th that they’re gonna they’re gonna shoot for that one so I’m gonna try to do October and December uh at least if I’m healthy and then you know next year is kind of just riding the wave into ADCC and then kind of doing just sporadic stuff here and there if I if I want to and then ramp it up and do like two or three back to back uh as ADCC approaches so are you planning to Grapple Felipe in December for the Invitational um I don’t think December for Felipe just because of the fact that I’ve like I’ve this is the longest I haven’t trained it’s been like almost four months for me just dying um but uh I think definitely next year maybe like during like International fight week or something during July um then you know it’ll be a good build up because there’ll be a lot of there’ll already be a lot of traction because of ADCC so I can do like last year where I kind of do like a warm-up match and I do Felipe and I kind of build we build the story into ADCC um so right now I’m just trying to get back into the swing of things because it’s been so long since I’ve actually been able to be training because I haven’t been healthy uh so just you know dealing with that now and then uh taking it playing it by ear and you know monitoring my health and hopefully hopefully back out there soon thanks man foreign something congratulations on the victory how do you feel about your performance of the night in general yeah it was pretty fun you know I was coming here looking for uh an entertaining couple matches few matches and you know got it done yeah how what was the final like talking to that and how it went and did it sort of surprise you or anything in there kind of trick you out okay so finals was uh Nikki right the black most Slayer versus big Dan the Giant from I don’t know Iceland or something like that so like a 300 pound opponent versus a uh a 230 pound natural leaky Rod so I don’t know I knew he was going to try and enter legs and I just kind of used my uh use I feel like I you I’m so handsome compared to him he might have got a bit distracted and I was able to batterylock pass you know due to that distraction so got a couple passes in and uh you know took it to overtime where I know how to shine as a natural athlete is this win more important to you to prove that you guys can do that on the biggest stage well I just think I just think Jiu Jitsu has a reputation for being unnatural so it’s up to guys like me to kind of separate us from the dirtiness the filth of the the steroids where the steroid Olympics I’ve I’ve heard it called so many times um you know and not all of us are on gear you know I’m a natural athlete I’ve been wrestling since I was 12 years old I’ve been lifting since I was about um you know 16 17 and uh you know I’m built for battle that’s why I look this good I know it’s hard for people that are abusing steroids to understand a physique like this is actually attainable through hard work dedication and Longevity yeah you made a challenge after you win um what was the mindset behind that challenge well let’s let’s go back um after my after I my match with Gordon Ryan I broke his foot in the same stage right and then immediately after its match he accuses me of greasing greasing in the sport of Jiu Jitsu is something like looping up putting lotion or oil on before you compete so you’re a bit slippery so his excuse for me breaking his foot wasn’t due to my proper technique it was due to my lotion so I was like all right I had this podcast with Mark Bell the power project scheduled so I was like all right I’ll let it slide I give it a few weeks I go on the podcast and they ask me about our match and they ask me what Gordon Ryan’s best advantages I was like it’s not technique it’s not strength it’s not size it is his ability to to use and abuse steroids and he didn’t like that too much so my response to him accusing me of cheating was to tell people the truth and uh you know we have some back and forth on social media and whatnot so I figure you know having this win at UFC Fight Pass Invitational for would be a good a good chance oh in addition he so once I once I you know told the world that you know he was on gear which is is nothing it’s nothing too bad you know he kind of admitted it um he then accused me of doing steroids so I take a random drug test shout out more plays more dates Derek randomly drug test me you guys can check it out on YouTube and I passed out with flying colors no problem so he’s like oh it’s it’s false it’s false he’s still on steroids so I’m like all right no problem it’s still you continue to accuse me of gear so I win this match I call him out 10 minute match ebl overtime with stipulations of we both passed you sought a drug tests before and after competition and check this out even if you I’ll still compete just whoever fails has to Forfeit half their purse to the opposition sounds like a good time to me he declined that challenge when he was just here he said that steroids aren’t legal in Jiu Jitsu um he said they are illegal there are they are steroids are not legal inju Jitsu that’s what he said they said they are not illegal okay all right he didn’t he didn’t expand on that but that’s what he said but uh so he said no and he doesn’t want to give you sort of an organized match because he doesn’t want you to make cloud and money off his name and said he’ll just meet you in a tournament somewhere where he can just sort of bump into you and you won’t get any sort of recognition or three times you’re you’re a normal purse um if you look at like he Gordon’s a guy of statistics and numbers and things like that so if you look at reality I have a match against Gordon Ryan where I break his foot and then he all of a sudden retires how ironic it’s just a bit weird with him standing like right there what he’s saying I would say it’s better I agree do you think you will end up meeting him again in a tournament or do you think he will realize like the interest in this matchup and that you guys will do a scheduled matchup you start a uh stipulation or not uh I mean I’m down to compete in competition against uh against the best guys in the world you know Gordon’s no different um I think even if we did the usata test he would not be natural you know I think it’s he’s too far gone to be ever considered natural um but you know uh this Jiu Jitsu is fun for me you know it should say it’s just another game it’s just another bout that needs to be dominated and I’m the guy to do it that first escape on big Dan um in overtime was just beautiful um and Elite man uh can you walk me through that oh all right big Dan yeah he starts arm bar and I feel like you know I have some space in there so I kind of allow my arm to extend and I just kind of give him a little bit of a thumb rotation to create the perfect the perfect amount of angle in order to escape and then he gets you in this armbar for the for the second one how tight was that uh on a scale from one to ten maybe like a 1.5 it was not very tight at all I felt like you know maybe a toddler was grabbing my wrist so I limped out pretty easily and then you know got to his back or took the back then got my choke going what are you gonna do with a 30 grand well uh what I’m gonna I’m gonna it’s gonna Aid towards a down payment on a house as a responsible young athlete would awesome and uh what’s next what’s next I have some seminars coming up I have a seminar at Alliance Jiu Jitsu in Redlands California on the second uh but most importantly like And subscribe our B Team Jiu Jitsu YouTube channel thanks man all right thank you foreign foreign foreign foreign foreign thank you we are back well this feels familiar how have you been oh I’ve been great yeah uh yeah it’s cool you know I have a they walk out again my song going over this see the the defense and and everything uh it’s amazing man I love it and and look my face I don’t have to go to the hospital and stay all night in the hospital you know how different did it feel walking out I know it’s a different atmosphere you know not quite as big but what did that did that feeling feel the same the feeling walking out yes of 100 you know me over there waiting waiting for Anthony’s meat to walk is the same I felt the same thing in the fight always come relax but whether it’s compete that little you know that little energy a little adrenaline yes um definitely the same but you know of course you know prior to the fight the week of the fight is more relaxed more calm because it’s not like uh I don’t know you know UFC you have that dream you have that this is like a more Prussian I think you know and of course a lot more dangers my wife was there in the locker room with me and she was like uh just smile on her face you know and I said you’re not nervous honey you don’t have to take any Xanax or anything because usually for my fights uh she always like uh oh this is the time that I wanted to throw up you know when they when the guy come into the to the locker room and say glove you’re in deck you know she’s like yeah that’s that time I usually start feel like I have to throw up and it was all fun how this came about did the UFC approach you did you do for it what was the how’d that happen oh Ed called me and uh and asked me a a go over the guys in a fight pass gonna put a you know Jiu Jitsu show and um they wanted to to grab what do you think I say of course man any time of course I loved you I think the opportunity those guys give me by the way they were so supportive uh uh the whole thing my traveling situation that happened you know New York I don’t know if you guys know this I think over 1800 flights got canceled it was crazy Nightmare and you know Trier State there but the guys were so supportive uh Anthony Smith was supportive because I I couldn’t be here to make the weight my weight’s supposed to be 225 I come in 234 to 32 to 34 but you know they have to make the weight I say it’s fine let’s go over there let’s have some fun just get here and the the travel agent was like amazing trying to do everything buying tickets here go back to Newark go back to New York but uh yeah you know team Wok make uh make it happen you know and people they are they tell me like oh Clover thank you you make the effort you come over here it’s easier to make it happen when everybody walk is with you you know everybody was in the same boat walking she was calling two in the morning making flights and and getting hotels it was amazing I just want to appreciate everybody did that you know what what were the thoughts when you heard it was gonna be him no I think uh they were looking for opponent you know they they have a couple names on on the horizon and um uh but then the Smith come come and uh I say yeah I love it yeah it’s going to be uh Anthony Smith and this meat is a good grapply I know there you know MMA is different uh the punches the the the submission attempts and stuff uh I was like excited to to go over there and grab Atlanta and Smith yeah were there any Flash no not at all I uh I uh you know I love Anthony Smith by the way he’s uh he’s amazing guy and uh I’m glad we just grappled today we didn’t have to hurt each other it was uh it was cool sounded like right after the first round that Anthony was asking for the scores I guess he was told that there would be open scoring where you told that was that something you had anticipated yeah I heard about it I heard about it that the score was gonna be on the on the board but I like it I I like the idea that they didn’t tell the score because if you think about it it’s like if I if I know or any if verse verse right like either way if I know that I win the first and the second round I’m probably going to stall in a turret right because I don’t even if I lose the third I already win the match so it’s kind of cool that you don’t know like exactly like in UFC you don’t know the score so you you just go and fight fight more and and you push the fight to get more excited for the fans I like that I uh I I but but it was was like uh they say it was going to be open Score like every round but I like this way better and last one for me how soon do you want to get back in there how often do you think you’re going to be doing these days uh anytime anytime this is fun uh didn’t get hurt um they call me again uh I’ll be there you know let’s do it hey Glover um so now you’re too you know over Anthony Smith are you going to do like arm wrestling next or are you gonna do chess you know basketball what’s what’s next uh whatever man you know uh you know like I say Anthony is a great competitor and you know and uh it is it’s no beef it’s just a competition we go over there and have some fun and make uh some money doing it and uh it’s amazing you know I uh yeah well we’re gonna go drink some beer right now I I I I told him uh we’re gonna go to some place he’s he’s have some some place we’re gonna hang out and chill drink some beer maybe he’s taking me down I don’t know about it you know I I drink a lot of beer so I still you’re gonna be I think it’s gonna be a tough match for him the video of Alex giving you a motorcycle went viral um how how I guess surprising was that and just how did it mean to you uh you saw that video you know I cried I could I didn’t have the word to it’s like you kind of be like a little dumb kid you know um yeah like you don’t know what to do or say it was a surprise I come stressed out from Florida I don’t know if you guys know this I was in Florida for UFC and coming back you know you couldn’t land in New Jersey so we land in North Carolina I have to drive back for for nine hours and I got home tired and Alex like I got a surprise for you and we talk about motorcycle a week before I say I want a Harley man we gotta get a Harley you got to get a Harley too so we go Green Canyon you know and uh he he had it over there he bought a house but he’s not in his house here so I swear I thought that he bought the I was like oh no you bought it you bought you bought the bike you know and I thought he was gonna leave in my garage until he gets his house but he said hey it’s yours man and I I couldn’t believe it you know and uh very thoughtful of him and um I was is more like the the the action you know he went over there because you know I want it and it was a great I mean expensive gift you know he went over there get it put it over there was uh was touching yeah I I say I got emotion today that’s awesome um speaking of Alex you know what do you think of the matchup against John wohovic I think his great match up for Alex you know I again I as a fighter I have a hard time like Anthony Smith you know uh you know uh those guys uh become my friend you know and I hate to see Alex really go out there and knock him out you know because Alex is a knockout artist but uh he has a job and uh we we going against again you know this is it and uh I think he’s a great match up for Alex I think he’s gonna I think Alex gonna take over the the whole division he’s gonna he’s gonna be a champion again in the in the light heavyweight do you like him going up to light heavy weight huh do you like him going up to light heavyweight yeah I like him go July heavyweight I’m the first guy to to see and when he see who’s going to go to light heavyweight I was like I love it that you go and I have you because I don’t want a ham choose I don’t want to see him cutting that much weight you don’t know how much that guy caught and uh he’s a 230 pounds right now and he is lean he’s probably like eight percent body fat uh you know and for him to drop to 185 it’s crazy crazy man I mean I can’t wait I don’t cut that much but I know how hard it is and as you get older it gets harder and harder and uh and that eventually can can be bad for you as you know health for bad for your health and I don’t want to him to be in that position so I’m glad and finally um there’s this storyline out there that people want to see they want to see Alex beat yon obviously and then go up and avenge your loss to Jamal Hill is that something that you would like to see yes yes I think uh for sure this style with the Jamal Hill and uh and Alex is uh it’s perfect for Alex listen Jamal Hugh is a great fighter Jan is a great fight we’re not looking passion over here like that because uh style makes fight right my style was more grappling and stuff for young is a tremendous Striker he beat Israel at the science and he was doing really good with him uh stand up too before he’s talking for the ground you understand you man he hits harder but uh you know everything go in our plan and the Alex passion for sure I think Jamal Hugh would be a amazing fight for for Alexander be nice it’d be nice to see him uh Revenge you know nothing against Jamal heal he’s a great guy as well but uh yeah thank you Clover um I’ll put the shift back on to you for a minute um since you put your gloves down at UFC 283 what has been like the biggest thing you’ve noticed since your retirement I guess what makes you happy in these past couple of months if anything makes you happy oh man you know uh just be there more for the guys and not not have to think about myself too much is is amazing thing I have the gym size 2014 you know I trained the fight team I train myself and uh but now being there more for the guys and not think about myself too much is is a great thing it makes me more happy and um and just the fact that I don’t have to worry about it too much you know I mean this grappling uh thing come up and I train my ass off I always train a grappling I’m always going to train I just don’t Spar anymore you know I’m not going to spoil Alex I grapple him I’m not going to spawn him anymore I don’t want to get hit anymore man good do you think you’re more nervous when you’re cornering Alex in one of his big fights than when you were fighting 100 100 I I hate it I hate it man I uh I uh hid in a way that I love it all right like you know the winning and everything I hate when Alex lost the last fight it was like bro you don’t understand how how bad it is I’ve been knocked out before and uh believe me it’s the worst to see you guy your friend you know getting the opposition and it’s not just that even when you want is the butterfly and it’s like I I still share a box in the locker room and stop sweating up because I wanted to to take the adrenaline off you know when I’m fighting we got the adrenaline but we Shadow back we’re hitting the pads we came ready to fight right now it’s like the adrenaline is there you just gotta deal with it you know but uh yeah I’m I’m uh I’m getting better with like more relaxed and passing there the relaxation to the guys you know thank you yeah good thank you guys thank you appreciate it foreign suede I can skip the UFC tomorrow you know come on oh it’s Saturday right that’s potential uh Craig I mean congratulations on the victory formidable opponent that you’ve overcome tonight where would this this win put you in the rankings of Jiu Jitsu right now well I mean I think given Felipe is the pound for bound best Grappler alive right now taking him out I believe firmly puts me at number one and really it’s hard for me to see anything else to do in the sport because what else is there to accomplish when you’re the number one Grappler are we going to take on Santa Claus are we going to drink some beers You Know It’s Tricky right I mean so would you say that this could potentially be the last time we see you compete I say that but if I spend enough money tonight I’ll I’ll come back for the right price you know Las Vegas is the sort of place you can do that was there anything in the in the matchup that surprised you was his performance surprising well you’re going for overtime how do you feel you performed all right so sort of to sum it up right when we spoke about the match I was over training with Izzy uh I was I wasn’t really in training camp or anything you know so like I came back it only did like a three four week camp so I was like when they asked me about it I was like yo Philippe you better not come in too heavy because last time I trained with him it was like 2 35. and then at the weigh-ins he showed up on the dot 225 and I told him I said you better not come in heavy like you better come in under 225 so when he came in at 225 I was a little concerned that his size obviously I was 210 um and then when we went out on the mats I saw some of the most beautifully clean legs I’ve ever seen in my life there was going to be no friction with the hair there so I was like you know what it’s going to be hard to leg lock we better just game The Rose and find a way to win a bit of an awkward sequence right when you’re both rolling rolling rolling and suddenly the mat stops and they kind of try and keep you on it is that a bit of a weird one especially in overtime where time is so valuable in that position I’m sure you weren’t necessarily upset that it was kind of getting stalled out but do you feel like that’s a bit of a weird one with the rule set yeah I mean that’s the challenge right it’s like uh the best way to get out of the back is like a turning escape and luckily though because I escaped in like eight seconds the first one Nikki was yelling out to me obviously my younger brother Nikki Ryan uh was yelling out to me saying that Craig you just need to hold the back for eight seconds so I was surprised usually that will stop her usually they’ll be allow you’ve secured enough time but we kept going so I was like I better maybe I I better keep holding the back here and when we started rolling for the edge I was like I was like Victor bro surely this is done mating but yeah it is it is annoying when we hit the edge yeah you will uh I don’t want to ruin your night but Gordon Ryan was back here and he wasn’t very complimentary of your performance well what was he saying tonight guys he was just saying that you didn’t really achieve much and you were very good in overtime but that was about it and the rest of the time you guys are resting and I know that Gordon and you sort of go way back how do you pull him off the toilet for the interview I can’t remember um the wind bathroom’s never been the same I’ll say that eh it’s always nice to see you guys together you can tell that you guys are you know it’s always like it’s Old Friends Meeting um it feels from my perspective the Jujitsu especially with the fight passing is getting bigger and bigger and I have to say with your podcast El Segundo thank you regular Jabs at Gordon it feels like beef and food here that’s enough to get the sort of casual MMA fan interested in Jiu Jitsu is that something that you’re aware of or do you just enjoy irritating someone I mean I Do It For the Love of the Game you know like if anyone looks at his Instagram you’re going to enjoy anyone tearing this guy down a bit the real problem is though I throw so many jokes at him only 10 get through you know it’s a struggle you know his ability to read he’s reading comprehension very very tough you know so like I know he listens to all the podcasts and so he gives me an extra downloaded list I believe you referred to him as a man entering a battle of wits unarmed and um that’s that’s for sure all the brain capacity went to one of the brothers that’s sadly the truth and how do you spend your evening tonight celebrating again we’re going to hackathon I believe you’re coming along we’re going to do the next interview there right sure keep Jiu Jitsu gay with the Fantastic tank top what’s that about uh I mean obviously inspired by my younger brother Nikki Ryan nah um keep Keep Austin Weird we kind of stole that uh and we turned it we mixed it up a bit you know obviously supporting supporting pride month and I mean I’ll tell you what a lot of Brazilians are not very kind towards gay people so I thought again they are very fun to travel so we’ll put it out there you know Alex is fighting next weekend um just thoughts on him thoughts on the matchup thoughts on just what’s what’s this fight mean to him uh yeah I mean this one’s interesting because obviously you couldn’t pick a more different opponent than Islam akichev I had to help him prepare for Islam I have to like try to figure out all the things Islam was doing luckily you are here on the ground more like a traditional Jiu Jitsu guy he really plays a lot of clothes guard more in my wheelhouse so when I was back in uh Wollongong helping him prepare much easier for me to figure out than the mysterious dagestani you know awesome thanks man how was it like having Alex there supporting you I mean I’m not sure if you caught it but he was kind of geeking out when you walked out to down under and pulled out his phone recorded it uh yeah I mean it was cold I hit him up because obviously like I mean where grapple grappling’s pretty cool but obviously what these guys are doing is very important so like I’m usually in his corner so I did ask him before I was like yo do you mind if I take a match like 10 days before you fight and he Not only was like gopher he’s like oh we’re flying early typically only flies in a week early so he came in early to be here for the marriage to be here for my match which is really cool let’s go thank you