Video
Original Description
On this episode of Good Guy / Bad Guy, could we see the UFC Octagon at the White House? Well, the wild idea could be reality by this time next year, but how likely is this to happen? Then, it’s a perfect day for the Good Guy / Bad Guy Bull$#!% Meter. So, are the guys calling BS on Jon Jones’ claim he’s returned to the testing pool? Or Conor McGregor’s statement to make his long-awaited comeback headlining at the White House? Plus, we’re handing out some Mid-Year Awards! Find out who gets DC & Chael’s vote for the best KO and best fight and the matchup the UFC needs to make by the end of the year is…
0:00 Intro
4:51 UFC at the White House? Seriously?
9:49 Jones interested in White House fight?
15:59 McGregor also interested in White House fight?
21:25 Ideal White House main event
28:46 Mid year awards
38:03 New champ by year’s end is who?
40:00 Fight the UFC needs to make?
✔ For more UFC, sign up for ESPN+ http://espnplus.com/ufc/youtube
✔ Get the ESPN App: http://www.espn.com/espn/apps/espn
✔ Subscribe to ESPN on YouTube: http://es.pn/SUBSCRIBEtoYOUTUBE
✔ Subscribe to ESPN FC on YouTube: http://bit.ly/SUBSCRIBEtoESPNFC
✔ Subscribe to NBA on ESPN on YouTube: http://bit.ly/SUBSCRIBEtoNBAonESPN
✔ Watch ESPN on YouTube TV: http://es.pn/YouTubeTV
Video Transcript
Jon Jones is going to be the savior. Oh my goodness. I've never wanted to cheer for Jon Jones more in my life. You
have blown my mind, Daniel Cormier. Kale, I would cheer so hard for him on the White House. If we need take this, I
know you guys always say I'm hard on Jones. If we got to send one American fighter out to the White House to get a
dub, man, send Jon Jones out there. I'll call him to ask him.
What's happening guys? I'm Chale. He's Daniel and welcome to another episode of Good Guy Bad Guy. Partner, where do you
want to begin? I mean, I just been hanging out, Chale. When we get that Thursday off, it really
does change the game, doesn't it? It makes it feel like we haven't done this for a long time. When when we only
haven't done it for seven days. And I enjoyed the Fourth of July weekend. Did you enjoy the Fourth of July weekend?
I love the Fourth. I traditionally go to a parade. It's a small town parade. I go every year for as far back as my memory
goes. We skipped it this year. We decided to start like a new tradition with our family as opposed to continuing
a tradition that I had with my my family. So, we went out to the coast. We did some fishing, Daniel. We had some
good luck. We had some crab pots and the guy even warned us like, "Hey, you you might scratch." And we didn't. We got
enough for dinner and we had a great time. Hey, can I tell you a crab pot story?
Chill. I get into the deadliest catch a while back. I mean, it was just I loved it.
I'm allergic to shellfish. Chill. Then I decide this is what I want
to do. Bob Cook then goes and buys crab pots cuz Bob Cook owns a boat which we
could take it to the bay, take off Santa Cruz, everywhere. Problem is, it's a small boat. So, I want to do this crab
pot thing. I think it's awesome. So, we get up in the morning, super early. We get off the dock down towards
Watsonville, push it into the ocean. We start going chill. I, me and my nephew
Bob and a couple other people were on the boat, but as I'm leaving, I don't know that I'm going to get seasick and
I'm going to it's going to be rocking. So, I was in there. I ate a big breakfast. Chill. The moment we hit the
the ocean, my stomach starts bubbling like you've never heard in your life.
There's no bathroom on the boat. That's what I did. Chill. I put that big old
butt right over the edge. Right.
It's one option. My other I was going to say you jumped in the water and stayed there for a minute.
I'm too scared to jump in the water, Jill. So, I just did it off the side. I mean, what are you going to do? What do
you do in that situation, JP? No one knows. I mean, that's one of the great mysteries of life. No, nobody knows.
That was the end of my crabbing adventure, Joe. That was it. That was the end of my crabing adventure. That
the end of your adventure because Bob Cook never invited you back cuz Bob Cook wouldn't let you on the
boat again. Daniel, I was on this thing. I had five
of my wrestlers with me and when we pulled up to the first crab pot. There was five crab pots in total. You had to check a box. Do you want do you want
five or do you want 10? And the guy that ran the ship told us only then, hey, by the way, you're
you're buying the rights to these pots, but I don't know what's in them, including nothing. We might pull these up and there's nothing. And he's got
this dolly and he's got this whole rig system. I'm on the boat with my wrestlers. I said, "Man, we don't need no dollies, no rig system. These guys
are going to pull these in one at a time. Each one of these guys is going to pull one of these in." And I I set a timer. I set a a stopwatch and turned it
into a competition. Every one of my wrestlers pulled that crab pot up. I couldn't believe they thought we needed
a dolly. I was offended. But that thing's heavy, though. Don't They're heavy cuz it was a workout.
Yeah. These are wrestlers. These are wrestlers, though. The toughest people on the planet.
Come on. Chill. Wrestles are the toughest people on the planet. And fighters are some of
the toughest people on the planet. We learned recently that there is an opportunity or a possibility that some
of the toughest people on the planet would get an opportunity to compete in a place where we never thought a UFC event
would ever take place. Now that Donald Trump is the president,
he's an UFC fan, is there all the time, he says,
"I want to host a UFC event on July 4th at the White House." jail. That is the
crazy that sentence in itself. I was like, whoa. Because you don't even think
it's possible. You never think you'd hear it spoken into reality. But when he said it, there's just excitement cuz
there's nothing that could that never would seem possible. What do you What do you think a percent that that actually
would happen be? What do you think that would be? That percentage? I heard him say it. I I heard him say it
and then I asked the people in the room, did he say what I just said? So, I grabbed my phone to text Dana right away
and I end up putting my phone down. I end up doing nothing with it. And I guess I didn't take it very serious until you just asked it right here on
ESPN. Now, I'm starting to think, well, maybe they're going to do that. What would the buildout be for that? I I mean, think about what Brisari and
Candido got to go through to to bring in I guess you're going to raise a stadium because he stated the number of 20,000
people, by the way. So, now you're talking like bringing in an ampl for for for one night only. It's it's an
interesting concept and I I guess as time has gone by I have taken it more serious. I I took it almost like an
announcement. I guess there's announcement that we're going to do a UFC on the grounds of the White House. I
guess so. There are two people that I've learned in this world that when they say
something, it might seem out of left field, but generally, even though they
may seem to live in a different place, it happens. So, Donald Trump once said
he was going to become the president of the United States. Everybody laughed like, "Oh man, this guy's out of his mind. He's in his second term now." Dana
White then said, "We're going to go to this sphere for a UFC event, right?"
Come on, Dana. How you going to do that? We went to this sphere. Dana White and Donald Trump when they say stuff, even
though it may seem out of left field, they're not just saying it. That that's like my interpretation now of of the
words that I take from these two gentlemen. When he said they're going to do a UFC event at the White House, I was
like, "Oh my god, that's exciting." Then I started to think, well, for him to just come to a fight, all the hoops that
we go through as people that work for the company, right? They're in the the Secret Service is in the arena the day
before. We all have to do so many other things, background checks and all these things because the president's going to
be there as we should. Imagine trying to put 25,000 at the White House. They're
going to go through all those steps for all those people. I think that we as a country can do whatever we want.
America, you know. I love it, baby. I love my red, white, and blue chill. I don't know that the effort it will take
to make that happen is going to be uh worth the squeeze almost. I I I just
don't know. And it's going to be outside in July. Get hot. It gets hot in Washington in July. And Daniel, please
think of it from this perspective. like for the the UFC to to flex and show its ability to play any venue was quite
impressive when we did Sphere, but this is to build a venue. I just got to
remind you of that. There is not one at the White House and there's plenty of places that you can use and it could be
an invite only and we could do like a little baby apex if you will. 20 to 25,000 people. You are talking
about building an arena. I know we don't make politics out of this and I'm doing my best to walk away, but I will tell
you the stock market doesn't like love the idea. The the the the symbol TKO
took a little bit of a dip this morning. I don't know. I don't really know what to make out of it. I will tell you on a
selfish level, if this goes down, I really hope they bring me. I plan to die at the White House
someday, but this would be my first time setting foot on it, so I think it'd be pretty
cool. But to build a venue is a little outside the scope of what the UFC
generally does. I think that's fair by me to say because well, he wants 25,000 seats. You
got to find a way to get 20,000 25,000 seats onto uh the White House grounds. I
mean, it would be it would be amazing. Everybody's like, "Are you going?" I'm like, "I'm absolutely going." I was
like, "Bro, if there's one event that I'm never missing, one no UFC. I will
never miss No UFC. I don't care if it's in Guadalajara. I don't look care if it's in San Antonio, Vegas. The music
they play in there. I I live in Gilroy where they love mariachi music. But some of the music they play in No UFC, they
must have some new Mexican artists or something because they be having me dancing in their jail. And the people
love it. They're such a festive people. They love dancing. They have a great time. I love No UFC. And then I'm not
missing some at the White House. It's going to be or would be amazing. But as you would expect,
people are saying, "Hey, I want in." So, it's time for that BS me
to chill. BS or no BS? Jon Jones goes, "I'm back in the testing pool. I want
in." BS or not. I believe it. There's a way to confirm
that. I must disclose. I did not do that level of research. I enjoyed my fourth. I will confirm that before the next time
we talk, but I believe when I go to check, his name will be there. But why? Why back already just for this?
You're back just to wait till next year to fight one time. You know, the moment you're back in the testing pool, they're
not going to let you fight anyone else. Chill. You're not the champion anymore. I get it. So, you have no obligation to
fight the number one the Sorry, you aren't the champion anymore. So, you have no obligation to fight the interim
champion. I always get that confused because again we had a champion that fought another guy while we had an
interim champion sitting on the sideline. So it can it's a bit of a confusing situation. That interim champion is now chill the world
champion. So Jones is not the champ. But I don't think he gets any other fight than Tom Aspenol which essentially was
the fight that he kind of walked away from the game going this guy's not worth my time. A couple of thoughts and they
go in this order. Thought number one, you Daniel Cormier are in a tremendous spirit today and I really do appreciate
it. Like your attitude is contagious and you're lifting me up a little bit. Stop one. Step two.
What does it mean if John comes back? Cuz excuse me, we don't have room for John the Contender. There there's
nowhere in the script where John, one of the boys, fits in. Just to cover the
salary that Jon needs, you've got to main event him. To main event him means you've got a world title fight him. He's
made it very clear that he doesn't want to fight for a world title. John is a dangerous man. You can't just go, "Okay,
he's a top 10. Let's put Jon in there with number seven or number eight." John will send the number one guy. John will
send champions of the world to the emergency room. So, there is there is an obligation about who he goes in there
and fights with. But it's in a very weird position where all of a sudden it's Jones calling the shot. And the biggest problem that we have with Jones
right now is we need a little rehab with the media because the people don't trust him. He's the one that came out and
said, "I'm going to do this. No, I'm not. Now I'm doing this. No, I not. Now I'm back in the pool." And you and I are sitting here questioning, "Can we even
believe that he entered the pool?" As small of a deal as that is, there's no buy button. There's no venue to go to.
There's no tickets for sale. And you and I still aren't conveniently convinced that that piece of information is true.
And I think that John has got to earn back the trust of the audience first and foremost. Otherwise, what's the point in
booking a guy that blows back and forth in the wind? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah, no BS. He is
going to be in the testing pool. You just don't know what it means him being in the testing pool. Also, you're right.
You're not one of the guys. You're Jon Jones. You're the champion of the world. That's all he's been his entire life in
this career. So, they're going to just put him right back in a position where he's fighting for a world championship
because that's uh what it's been. That's how it always seems to be. And and uh I
just don't know why he would want to retire. And in terms of like getting back the the the respect of the media,
ch it kind of feels and I hope he doesn't do that. I look, you know, Jon
Jones and I don't uh see eye to eye in most instances. And boy, he's been great. Hey, chill. He's
been great for my YouTube here this last couple months. I mean, him seen those numbers. Ch him flopping all over the place has
been great for my YouTube. But let me say this. Please don't become what Connor has
become in the media. You know, every time a big story breaks, Connor's like, I'm back or I'm doing this. Don't do
that. Don't make the Don't try to make it about you when you voluntarily walked
away from this. Connor didn't voluntarily walk away. Connor got hurt and he left. He just hasn't come back.
Jones voluntarily said, "I'm done." So now that he's done, don't try to make these stories about you whenever you're
a guy that's supposed to have walked away from the game, right? Am I am I wrong? Oh, no. You're you're completely right
about that. And that and that's why it does feel like a little game of of hide the ball where we do have to start to
question everything that Jon says. And Jon for the most part, not for nothing, is a man of his word. I can't think of a
time Jon said that he would do a fight and then backed out. Even fights that he second-guessed, he still went ahead and
did it. But but this one's a little different. We understand that it's supposed to be Jon versus Tom. In the
interim, we would have thought from John being stripped and Tom being elevated that perhaps an announcement about Tom
and what's next would have happened. All we've got is rumor and speculation. We got half of the community saying it's
going to be Surreal Gone. You have me, you have and maybe alone stopping it and saying no, I believe it's going to be
Alex Pier, but either one doesn't quite feel right. The what feels right is
John. But how long can we let Jon play this game? And don't forget return to the testing pool. These are legal terms.
If you leave the testing pool and you have previous negative assays, which means you failed drug tests, when you
return, you must sit for 180 days. This was very clear and this has been argued about from Noitzky to Hunter to uh I
could even bring in Travis from from USAD and I don't mean to I can't his name is escaping me. But I'll just tell
you, for Jon Jones to come back now, sit for 180 days just to satisfy this really weird uh clause that he never should
have been subject to except for the 13 days that he removed himself, the whole thing is a little bit bizarre. And I do
think if you're going to do business with John, you've got to earn the trust cuz Daniel, don't forget, if John goes out there and wins, if you think he's a
headache now, holy, that that that that headache only grows. It's an issue you're going to have to
deal with. We're either going to turn the page from the Jon Jo Jones era or we're not. But I'm very confident in
telling you Jon Jones, one of the boys, Jon Jones somewhere on the card, feature
match, and it's got Jon Jones. He's either a contender or he's not. He's either wants the highest award, which is
the world championship, or he doesn't. And I'll take him at his word, but he has not made it clear to me where he
stands. Yeah. Conor McGregor. Also, I I mentioned Connor a little bit and he
also said, "Hey, White House, me versus Chandler." So, he said
he hit up Dana wants to headline the White House versus Michael Chandler. Then he tweeted, "Happy 4th of July,
USA. I'm excited with President Trump announcing a UFC fight event at the White House. I would be honored. Count
me in." Jail. I literally just made this point. I like
I made this point right before you made your last point that he hasn't fought in
the like I mean I don't even know the amount of years now. When was the last time he fought? He fought Dustin Poor when he broke his leg in what 21 22
maybe. It's been a long time. Chandler was supposed to happen. They did the Ultimate Fighter. There are so many
reasons and so many times where he has teased that he will be back. How do we
take this any different? So BS and no BS. Would Conor McGregor come back to fight at the White House?
You know, again, we take a guy at his word and Connor has told anybody that's willing to listen, I want to fight. I
haven't heard from the UFC. The main reason that I believe that statement to be true is it's the only time Connor's
ever spoke and kind of made himself look bad. When he's openly saying, "I want to go to the dance with this girl, but this
girl, I just can't get her to return my phone calls." Connor never puts out a piece of performance art when he's out
there and he's entertained and he's doing his thing. He never does that where he makes himself the doofus, which
is why I've always believed he really would like to fight. The UFC just has no place for him. It also comes down to a
trust issue. They had a $25 million gate that was waiting. They were doing a
press conference two miles from Connor's home in Ireland when we get a picture of
a discolored pinky toe which may or may not be broken and may or may not have even belonged to Connor. Like he doesn't
take a picture of a pinky toe and then he like scrolls it up to himself. There's just a picture of a purple toe
and this whole event is off and at some point if you're Danny you're going listen you're going to burn me once but
you're not going to get me twice and I've got to be able to trust the guys that I'm working with. That's where
things get tough. I do believe that Connor would like to fight if it was at the White House, but I think if they
bring something special to the White House, I think you're likely to have a title somewhere in there. And Connor
doesn't qualify for that. And Jones has openly said, "I'm I'm not going to do that. If I'm to take these guys at their
word, then Daniel, I got to call BS." So, so that was the closest or at least
in theory that was the closest we got to McGregor coming back because we got
through the show, right? We got all the way to the press conference. It was planned. The tickets went on sale. That
was close. Why is he not Why has nothing happened since though? Yeah.
That broken toe should be long healed. Yeah. Why? Well, and I've also wondered that I'm
sorry. I thought you were rhetorically asking. I'm asking you like but that hey that's been a little bit discussed as
well. You know there was rumors of Connor coming back for 300 and that is when Travis Tagard that's the name I was
looking for earlier the head of USADA stepped in and said not so fast man this this guy's failed before. He's a
returning fighter. We need 180 days. If Connor would have stayed in the pool and to my knowledge he did then Connor is
eligible as quickly as right now. but he may not have entered the pool if he did get frustrated somewhere along the way
or he's traveling. A lot of guys that travel a lot and don't plan to fight a fear about a whereabouts violation. So,
they just remove themsel and I'm I'm just sharing with you that I don't completely know. I think that we've got some good stars. But Vince McMahon runs
into the same issue or now Triple H where you have these big stars but they're not traveling the road. They're
not setting up the ring. They're not doing things when it's hard. So, you have all of these hard spots to create a
great opportunity and these guys that weren't there for the hard spots want to jump in and and take Billings in the big
opportunities and I just don't think that Dana is going to work that way. I I I I think that the the guys and gals
from the locker room that have helped raise to this occasion, I believe those are the ones that you're going to see fighting if they do set up an amplified
in the back of the White House, which by the way is a tremendous ask of anybody.
Yeah. Go build a venue. Hey, look. See that over there? Build a venue. Oh, by the
way, in the most high security place ever. Do you know how long it would take to get I-beams in? You're trying to
bring in your cement trucks. You're trying to bring in your audio guy. Do you know what they would have to go through? And they're talking about
they're going to have this done by July. That's why that's why I'm a little bit hesitant on it. But again, I don't doubt
President Trump and I do not doubt Dana White. Um, that's the thing. But DC, we haven't
heard it yet from Dana. What did you think when Trump said it? Did you think he was being sincere? No. I I swear, dude. Like I was
immediately go I immediately thought to myself, oh, like another one of the things where the president kind of just says it and
then you think it's a joke, but it's not. He's really being serious. And I
just kind of believe I've grown to believe that these dudes don't say stuff just to say them, man. It in most cases
happens. Hey, but I want to ask you this. We don't think John will main event. We don't think Connor will main
event, but it's the White House. I feel like an American should be at the top of
the bill. Here's the problem. We have no Americans. First off, we have no
American champion. We have no American champion now that Jones gone. Only Kayla. Kayla's the only American
champion. Chair, we don't have an American in the top 10 of the Palon rankings right now. Like that. That
doesn't happen. So, who's the main event? We can't headline the White House, no disrespect to anyone with a
Russian versus a a span a Spaniard. We can't do a Brazilian versus a Georgian.
What do we do? We have to have an American in the main event at the White House, at least I feel that would
happen. So, does it make it to where if Jones goes, I am able to do it. I want
to do it. Or do you say, uh, we headline with someone else? Here's the problem.
You put John versus Tom. Tom's from England. I mean, you know, we we're we're celebrating our independence from
England on July 4th. We want to put John in there to represent us against Tom. What if Tom wins? All of a sudden, the
English wins. I mean, come on, Jail. I hadn't thought of that. That's very high level thinking by you. You bring up a
great point. Okay. If I was to matchmake that and and I would have to I'd have to get a little bit of a vibe from from
from the PR team like, "Hey, are we doing this as a special as a one-off event or is this built right into the
actual UFC schedule? It feels like an extra. It feels like a bonus where it feels like we're having some fun." Listen, let me tell you about a time
that the president, Donald Trump himself, did attend and it happened to be on the worldwide leader of ESPN and
we happened to have two absolute studs out there, but they weren't fighting for a belt. So they created one called the
BMF. I believe we could rematch George Mosall and Nate Diaz and we could do it
on the White House lawn. Nate Diaz with George Mos.
Yep. Those are names that people recognize. So that would be good. Um do you want to
do uh would you would you put uh would you put Sean Strickland in the main event?
Could you imagine? Could you imagine Sean Strickland? Could you imagine Sean Strickland?
You have just blown my mind. Could you imagine Sean Strickland in the main event talking crazy in the buildup
to a fight at the White House? I did not think anything was going to trump the image I had in my head of your
little black booty hanging over that boat as little like stay still. Okay. So
that you you don't you don't capsize yourself. Yeah. Yeah. And now you got me. He he'd wrapped
himself in the flag. Could you imagine that? Could you imagine? The bet that Well, the honestly the guy that the guy that should, but I think
that he's is uh he's lost is Chandler. Chandler would be perfect for a White
House cuz you rap he walks out with that flag, good-looking kid from the Midwest,
like wrestler. Chandler would be the guy. Um
if it's a fight night, why not Chandler versus Coington? That works, right? If
it's a fight night, Chandler versus Coington, we're getting closer here.
American flag over the back. Kobe carried it out like this. We're at the White House. That's the type of fight
that you need. Or Coington on top of the bill. I love it. All right, we got half of it done. Who's
he take on though? Should he take on George Mos Danler? He's got to go with Ch. I like what
you're doing there cuz there's parody. You're taking a 55 with a 70. You're taking two all-American wrestlers.
You're taking guys, one's 37, one's 38. I like what you're doing there. I just like I I like the idea of two
American dudes walking at the end or in a a bad bad American that's going to
win. And if we need if we need Hey, Chill, I it pains me to say if we got to
send one bad American out there to get the job done, he lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Chill, at this point. If
we're sending one bad American dude like, "Hey guys, we need one American
dude to go represent the country and get a dump." Hey, uh, call Jon Jones. Hey,
you bring in Sergy Pavich. Sergey Pavich versus Jon Jones. Jon Jones is going to
be the savior. Oh my goodness. I've never wanted to cheer for Jon Jones more
in my life. You have blown my mind, Daniel Cormier. I would cheer so hard for him on the White House. If we need, take
this. I know you guys always say I'm hard on Jones. If we got to send one American fighter out to the White House
to get a dub, man, send Jon Jones out there. I'll call him to ask him. I'll call you to get Siri calling him.
I would call him if we got to send one American dude to get a victory. And I love the rest of them. I love
Kobe. I love Michael. I love all these dudes. If we got to do one American dude, man, you better put Jon Jones out
there. Go get us a dub as a country. Daniel, I told you about the last time I got a hold of Jon Jones. Yeah.
Number of years ago. But I got a hold of him and instantly I had bubbles. Instantly he gets back to me and it's
this is all that this is all that it says. But Daniel, he he he skin toned it. So it so it was a black it was a
black one of the And there was something it was funny, man. I got a text from Dean Thomas yesterday.
I got a text from Dean Thomas yesterday and it was like we I said something and he was like agreeing and he sent the
fist like yes but it's like black because he and I was I was like I was like oh it's a little bit uncomfortable
like but you know like he sent the fist and I was like but it's the black fist. I was
like okay I understand. All right. Coach Clayton will do that and sometimes he'll even do his face but then he'll put his white beard in you know he'll
put his white and it pops up and it's like I get it that I get it. Yeah Dean you're black. I know. Uh,
chill. Let's give out some awards. Make What about Bo Nickel? The president likes Bo Nickel. Yeah, a president like
What about Zuckerberg versus Elon finally takes place? Are we being too silly? Are we being silly now?
I was in Zuckerberg's camp. I went to train him. Is he cool? He's a nicest guy, dude.
I hear that guy. I hear he's a good dude. And he he Hey, chill. But I went in there to train him. And like some of the
coaches, they're they're hard on him to a point, but the training partners, they're trying to protect him. I'm like,
you got to throw him down to the ground. He said he wants to train. And Mark's like, "Yeah, yeah, DC. Yeah." I'm like,
"I'm going to treat him like treat him like the rest of these athletes. If he wants to train, let's train him." Okay.
Okay. I got to train him. I like that you say that cuz I got to catch some of his tapes as well. And I felt like there
was a lot of real positives, but they need a little more physicality. more physical. I felt like they need just be a little
bit more fit. When you grab a guy, go ahead and grab him. If you push a guy, go ahead and push him just a little bit. I felt like they were a little soft in
that regard. And he doesn't want you to be soft on him. He actually wants to train. He's here to actually train, so give him what
he asked for. Have you ever been in the room with Lex Freriedman? Uh, I don't know who that is. Chill.
Lex Freedman's a killer. I think actually you would know him if you saw his face, but I got to see him and Zuck training and my only gripe was, hey, a
little bit more physical. They were kind of just kind of just a little bit more physical. Nobody was No, nobody's
helping anybody. If you're 20 minutes into a workout and your partner's not sweating, you're doing something wrong.
Yeah, Johnny Evelyn. Johnny Evelyn was a little physical with him. Johnny Evelyn, he's a he's a he's a grinder. Johnny
Evelyn actually didn't hold back a little bit. He did good. All right, halfway through the year, let's do some awards. All right, let's start with the
knockout. Okay, Tapora knocked out Charles Ola. Oh my god. Malcolm Wallmaker knocked out
Moutinho and then Mauricio Huffy hit that spinning heel kick on on King Green. All right, can I go first?
Yes. I think this one's a no-brainer. I think I knockout was the most uh valuable
because of the the stage and what it meant. But in terms of just an knockout,
it was it was that Mauricio Huffy's heel kick of King Green, bro. That was crazy. He kicked King Green in the face with
that heel kick when he went flat cuz you know how good uh Green is. You
know how good his eyes are. You know how athletic and gifted he is at turning, rotating, moving. He had no idea that
that heel kick was coming. Hoofy hits him with it. Boom. Face first in the ground. Over. That's my knock on the
year to this point. I love it and I'm gonna weigh in mine and I am gonna go with Ilia Tupora for
one simple reason. It was so basic. What he did was so I mean everybody everybody that fought that night through jab,
cross and a hook. But to watch Ilia be able to generate that kind of power, not to mention upper weight class, not to
mention on a former world champion. I mean, the story was just not supposed to go that way. Not something so B. Charles
has been knocked down before, but to knock him out with his eyes rolled back in the head, actually unconscious, man,
that was that was a sight to see. And I thought the brilliance was in the basics. So, I'm going to go with Ilia.
That's that's a good choice. And honestly, Charles was knocked out before he even hit the ground. Like, he he didn't have he didn't have to hit the
ground to be knocked out. He was already knocked out by Ilia Tapora, who's proven to be uh just amazing. Okay, how about
our fight of the year? Jack Delmatena had a great fight with Bal Muhammad. That was fun. Morabin Umar had an
absolute classic, right? The es and flows of that fight. And then Brandon Roy Val versus Joshua Van. There was a
fight honestly the week before UFC 318. Was that 318 that we just had? There was
a a fight the week before in Aabaijan. Uh it was 317 we had last week. There
was a fight in Aaraijan that was a really good fight that should be on this list. Uh that's not on it. Um Jake,
could you tell me the fight card from Aaijan? There was a fight that the kid that a guy won that was much better than
Jack Dean and Elena versus Bal Muhammad. But Moral versus Umar Ran versus Roy
Val. Chail your pick. Roy Val showed incredibly much heart. Like like even in defeat, he was a real
star for me. Roy Val, it it was very tough. Anthony Smith is personal friends with Roy Val. I was with Anthony. So we
go in the back to to check on him after the fight. You got Van in the ring wearing street clothes after a nice
shower getting his life changed, cutting a promo with Pantoian, Joe Rogan in the middle of it in the in the back. The
exact same effort by the exact same uh contest. You got Roy Val sitting
crisscross applesauce in in a pool of tears with all his clothes around him. I mean, the sport just has such highs and
such lows and I thought that that grit was really incredible. But I do got to go with Morab and Umar. A star was made.
The audience did not care about Morab at that point. Uh just to share for you that specific night. I mean he had to
jerk the curtain before Money Moano. He he was not a main event style fighter
and he was supposed to lose that fight. I think he was close to a 3 to one underdog. In fact, Morab was losing that
fight until he wasn't. He came back, he started showboating things that people generally have been annoyed when Morab
does. They started to get behind him. The audience started to get into it. They started to under Stan Morab. And at
the end of those 25 minutes, not only had he solidified and clarified that he is the best in the world, he also won
over the people. And that's a very difficult thing to do. So I go with Morab and Nurmagamedov.
it. Saddakov versus MOA was the fight that I was still Sodakov I mean Sodakov got hit with a 80
punch combination. He got hit with a 80 punch combination in the first round was almost finished
ended up finishing Mot in the second round. It was amazing. But I agree with you. I I think Roy Val versus uh I no
you pick morale but I pick Roy Val versus Van. Bro, I sat next to that octagon JP. And when he dropped Roy Val
in that last round, I jumped out of my seat. I was in my seat, standing up, jumping
up and down like I was so excited for what I was watching. I couldn't believe it. It was
an amazing fight and it was two guys that threw so many punches. They laid it all on the line and it really did show
you what it meant to those guys standing on the verge of a possible title fight.
They knew that if they won they would get the winner of Pantoia versus uh Kai
Carrance. They knew how important it was to get that victory and both of those guys fought that way. So yes, I will say
uh Roy Val versus Van, but Sodakov versus Mo was very very close behind it.
And if you guys didn't watch that fight, go back and watch it. Then you tell me in the comments which one uh would be
your guys' DC. If Jon Jones re-enters the testing pool and he calls Dana White today and says, "Listen, I don't know what I was
thinking a week ago, but I got my head on straight and I want Tom Aspenol next." Does Dana White give him that fight?
Yes, absolutely. I mean, if Jon Jones enters the testing pool, that's the only
fight they're going to give him is Tom Aspenol because like you said, the wage bill is too high. The wage bill is is
high seven figures. He has to fight somebody valuable. But you have a trust factor. I'm just
saying, do you believe that Dana White can trust? Could he put the last 13 days behind him and just say, "It's a wash.
We're good. We'll start over from right here." After he did that with you,
Dana said he would never main event him again. To my knowledge, there have been maybe
10 more main events since then because after What year was that with you? 13.
14. Yeah, I think I think I think 14. Maybe 13. 13. So like from for especially between
14 and 18, he was very active. like every time he could fight if he wasn't in trouble, he was fighting and main
eventing. So, uh, since that point, him and I had two main events. He main evented against St. Pru, he main evented
against Gustoson. He main evented against Anthony Smith and Thiago Santos and Dominic Reyes. So, so yeah, there
they would trust him if he said uh he was back. All right, last one. Chill. Fighter of the year to this point.
Islam, Toporia, Delat Alena, or Morab Dwalis Willie.
All all wonderful options, but what Taporia has done just seems to stand out
from everybody else. I mean, Tuporia not only should be your reign right now. If it was not for the power of the pin and
perhaps a mistake with the pin, he would right now be the 45 lb champion, the 55lb champion, and the BMF champion. won
all the fights to have all three of those hardware. It was just we we we inked it out and that's the only thing
that took it from him. So, I don't think we would be having a discussion if everybody had the belts that they earned
and should have. Ilia Tapora's year looks one heck of a lot different than everybody else's. And I'm going with
Tapora. Yeah. You know, justifiably you would choose him and he's a guy that that that
has been so amazing. He fought uh Max in Abu Dhabi, then he fought uh just
recently become the 155 pound champion. But I think it has to be Morab chill. Like think about this. Morab fought Umar
in January, a fight he was supposed to lose. Then he comes back and beat Sugan Ali, the former champion, and one of the
biggest stars in the division. And this time, not only did he win, he did it more impressively than he did the first
time. The first fight, it looked like him and Ali were pretty equal. last fight Ali gets submitted and Morab
really did win the vast majority of that fight. He keeps on improving and getting better. And if you have beaten both of
those guys in this year, I I I got to give it to them. But I think the ultimate respect it for Ilia is that he
knocked out a guy at 155 and then Shawn Ali, who is a guy with a lot of pride, goes, "Thank God he didn't take my
challenge when I was challenging this guy to fight him at 145." He throw to Tim. You told me this. He goes, "Thank
God he didn't accept my challenge because what he would have done to me." Right? So that's the ultimate respect
you get from competitors is when your peers go that's a very dangerous man. So
putting any of these guys uh number one is is is right but Islam's only fought
once. Jack's only fought once. Ili has only fought once. Morab has already beat number one and number two in his
division this year. And he'll probably fight again at the end of this year. So I got Morab. Hey before we go last one.
Ch. I want you to finish this sentence for me. There will be one new champion by the
end of the year. That will be Amanda Nunez.
So, she's back. Okay. I will answer the same thing. I I actually can't do this.
I can't do this. Yeah. Put you in a tough spot. Yeah. I can't pick a fight because if I was to say Hamzach, it would say me
picking him versus DDP's fight. If I said Islam, it would be me picking him in this fight. If I was to say freaking
Yuri Prohaskca, it would be like me picking a uh a main event. I can't do that, especially with these fights on
the book. So, and by the way, and by the way, Taya of Dickens Duplex, I mean, that one really is jumping out at me. Like the the fan
in me, I cannot wait to get to Chicago. I cannot wait for these guys to walk as we keep getting closer. That line keeps
getting closer. It's the fellow 85 pounders. the fellow 85 pounders are all speaking up and they're speaking up on
behalf of Drakus, not on the behalf of Chamay. And that has been a little bit of a surprise. I mean, Chamay has been a
media darling from day one in this sport. But all of a sudden, people are starting to realize, man,
this this South African, he he knows what he's doing in there and he can protect himself. DDP is went as far as
to he offered a $10,000 takedown challenge. He said, "I'll give you 10 grand for every time you take me down."
And if Chamaya can't take him down, I think it's a problem for Chamay. It's going to be a great fight. Chicago
is a great city, too. Bo, we're going to have a great time in Chicago. But Jill, you know what I think Chamaya did? Most
people feel that if Chamay is to struggle, it's cuz he will get tired. Hey, Chamaya has been out in LA for a
while training with Coach Cal. You know, Coach Cal knows how to get dudes in shape. He gets Penn State in shape. He
got TJ Dillashaw when he was at his peak was training with Coach Cal. Coach Cal knows how to get these guys ready. So,
he will have Chamay more ready than we have ever seen Chamay in his UFC career.
And if since I can't pick, I will do this. The one fight the UFC has to make
by the end of this year has to be uh let's say
um the one fight UFC has to make by the end of this year is
let's go I I can't I I I I I would. Every year we
say Jones Aspenol or Conor McGregor versus Michael Chandler.
Let's say the light heavyweight fight. Let's say the these guys are chirping at each
other back and forth. Um no, actually, you know what? Let's go Ilia versus
Patty. Let's go. They need to make that by the end of the year. Ilia versus Patty or Ilia versus anyone.
Did I say that? Ilia versus Patty. Ilia versus Arman. Ilia versus Justin. Ilia
has to fight someone by the end of the year. Ch. Yeah, sure. That's true. And same thing with Patty, right? Like
against anyone. I think I think we would enjoy any of those matchups. If if I had the power of the pin to make one, I like
the idea of Tom Asenol versus uh Alex Pierra. I've always liked the concept of
champ Champ. I don't know realistically in my lifetime, unless Alex gets it
done, that I'm ever going to see it. I don't believe realistically, at least in this era, of anyone that's under
contract right now, I there's no one that I believe that can go champ. Just him. Only him. And I'd like to see him
get the opportunity to try. Thursday, we're going to talk about this because I love that you started. We just don't have the time. But hey, Ilia said
the UFC asked him not to go to 170 if he became the 155 pound champion. And that
dude thinks that he can be a triple champion in the UFC. Hey, are you going to Nashville? Yes or no?
I won't be in Nashville. I'll be watching it, but I won't I'll be watching from my couch. I would love for you to come to Nashville. You would love that city.
It's awesome. Hey guys, chill son and Daniel Cormier. We will see you guys on Thursday. We don't get another week off.
Very rarely do they give us those days off. Can we have a Fourth of July every week for chill? Then we get Thursday off
again. But for JLP, I'm Daniel Cormier. We'll see you guys on the next episode of Good Guy Bad Guy. Peace.