With no major cards this week, this is probably our most random show yet. Some of the topics we discuss include the return of Chael Sonnen, drug testing in the big leagues, if UFC Featherweight Champion Jose Aldo should try other weight classes, Carlos Condit vs. BJ Penn, Bellator in Ontario, Dream in Japan, and who Rashad Evans will be fighting now that Phil Davis is injured.Then stick around to the end of our show for our interview with former UFC middleweight Joe Doerksen. Check out our website at http://www.thehammermma.com or Subscribe via Itunes.
The Hammer MMA Radio
The Hammer MMA Radio - Episode 49
[music] Hello and welcome to the Hammer! I am your host Dave, joining us always by my co-hosts. Greg, how's it going guys? And Steve, hey. It is Wednesday, July the 13th. We don't have a lot of cards to talk about, but we do have a ton of news. A lot, not a lot meaning zero. Well, fair enough. Actually, Greg, you're wrong. We'll get to it. Yeah. So, I'm listening to us live at 93.3 CFMU. You can also find us at thehammermma.com. And addictedmma.com. And yeah, there's, I wouldn't say it's a huge news week, but we've got half an hour to kill, so we'll do what we've got. And most importantly, we've got joining us on the show, Joe Jorksen, except not really joining us. We've actually got an interview with them that we taped from-- And the score fighting series. The score fighting series show that we show that we covered. It was a good interview with Joe Jorksen. We've really wanted to play it for a while, but there's been so many cards every week, we just haven't had a time. So at the end of the show, stick around, and we'll be having an interview with him. Of course, Guino White gave us a vacation from cards this week. And I already know. All the time in the world for Joe Jorksen. And you also have a vacation, Phil Davis. Thank you. This is officially the year of main event injuries. The UFC 133 main event on August 6 was originally supposed to be John Jones, defending the lightweight title against Rashad Evans. Once Bones got injured, Phil Davis stepped in. Now Phil Davis is out within the injury, leaving no main event for the early August paper. This is definitely the cursed card of 2011. It was like a genuine card. Just like a genuine card of whatever it was from 2010. You know what, though? I know it sucks for the card, but the card was even with Phil Davis vs Rashad Evans. Really, who wanted to see Phil Davis vs Rashad Evans? I kind of did. So, you know, as commentators and the two of the biggest fans in the world, we want to see Phil Davis vs Rashad Evans. We're both good fighters. In terms of bi-rate, in terms of who's going to tune in. No one was buying that show. No one was buying that show. Now, here's where it gets interesting, is they need a new main event. So the first thing they did was they approached Tito Ortiz about it, and he said he's just not going to be ready. I mean, he just peaked for a fight. He's not in training shape for-- He's not stupid enough to throw the dice against Rashad Evans. In three weeks. Now, they fought before to a draw. I mean, it's not inconceivable that Tito could win this fight. When I first started this, I thought Tito would be the best choice, but I guess it would be. And I think people would buy it. I think people would buy the show, but he doesn't want to roll the dice on his career like that right now after a big win. I don't want it safe. I like seeing guys take fights on short notes because it could make some kind of cool, but I don't begrudge anybody for not doing it. No. Look what happened to Rick's story. Yeah. And the other option was the rumor was Leo de Machida is late as early this morning. It was supposed to be him taking the fight because he's got no other dance partner, but he just turned it down as well, saying he wouldn't be ready. And his wife asked if he was crazy, if he was actually considering taking that fight. And we know he could be Rashad. First thing we know that his wife is a temperamental viper. [LAUGHTER] He runs me on the sheet of the household. Well, you know what? They should strike a Leo de Chida. His wife's like, "Are you taking this fight?" He's like, "I'm sorry, hon. I'm sitting home." She probably does have his best, his best interests at heart. I'm sure she does. Now, also on that card, the co-made event was Rich Franklin versus Little Nogue, which honestly one of those guys can step up. Yep. They can switch that around. Would you guys have a preference? I'd rather see Franklin. Yeah, me too. I think, I don't know, Little Nogue hasn't, has yet to impress me, looking at his fights in the last like five years. With that being said, Franklin is coming off of a loss, which unfortunately it was Little Nogue, but to me, Little Nogue is close to the top of that division in Franklin. I would not say that. Yeah, in his last three fights, he robbed Jason Brill's and lost two. He's nowhere near the top. Yeah, he doesn't have the losing streak that... Franklin's lost one in a row, because he beat Liddell before that, right? Yeah, sure. I mean, if it's right down to it, Franklin's a better choice, I think. Yeah, that's pretty good. Now, also, there's Alexander Gustafson versus Vladimir Mathishenko further down the card. You could really do some rearranging there. But neither of those guys belong in the event. This isn't just speculation. They have to figure this out. They need to make an event in three weeks. Well, yeah, they have to figure it out. Ultimately, though, I do. The one thing that makes me happy about this is, I like the fact that Phil Davis has finally decided to go and get his health right, and that's the thing that's sort of we should talk about. This guy's been fighting injured and sloppy for so long, and he keeps talking about I'm going to take some time to go rehab, or I'm going to take some time to go learn how to strike or do submissions. Finally, he always is the guy that they choose to fill in. Yeah, it's a shame because he's got so much potential, and you can tell he's got the tools. I mean, it would not take him long to really develop a good striking game. He's built that way, and he's quick. But yeah, he's always taking fights here, there, and everywhere, and he never seems to have time to get to 100%. The other thing is he always takes short notice fights. He's the guy who fills in for injuries. Bones is out. OK, we'll grab Phil Davis. The last, I think, four fights he's done have been injury fill-ins, which means that he's never had a good training cycle. That's true as well. So, for finally, because I love Phil Davis, I think he's one of my favorite fighters, and I think he's going to be a big star in the lightweight division. Whether he can unseat Bones or not, I still think the guy's got a lot of upside. With that being said, he's been using himself so badly, trying to prove himself. You've made it to the dance, you've proved yourself. You know, they're talking about putting you with Rashad to take on Bones. Don't throw that away. Don't be Rick's story, and don't be so eager to be macho, that you're going to go and fight with a tweaked elbow, a cranked knee, and you've never changed your striking game. It's Bones. The Chris Leibn winning two fights in two weeks doesn't happen to everybody. That's usually a turn to the opposite. Yeah, it happens if you've got so much of an advantage on the other guy, that you're going to win no matter what. Well, any different guy like Leibn would knock up power and you get lucky. Well, Leibn didn't knock Akiyama out. He actually got crushed by Akiyama for two rounds, but he's a significant weight advantage on Akiyama. And he finally managed to luck into a submission. Once Akiyama gassed. But if you're a bow, what I'm saying is if you're a guy like Davis, who goes in there and you really have to rely on your technical ability to win that fight in your conditioning. Your technical ability in your conditioning against a guy who is a top, top tier athlete, who is completely prepared for this fight. And Davis is the type of guy that's going to go, excuse me, Davis is the type of guy that's probably going to go to the distance. Yep. Unless he pulls off a submission, because right now he hasn't developed a good enough striking. He didn't pull off a submission against Rashad Evans. That's not going to happen, yeah. Come on, Leibn, and then Leibn... The fight will go to the distance. I love Phil Davis and I think the guys got the talent to pull off incredible submissions. I've seen him do it. But against the guy who's as talented at wrestling as Evans is, everyone knows that fight is going to the decision. And Evans is all about his draws now. Well, yeah, the fight's not going to the decisions. So, I mean, yeah, thank God. Stop rushing into fights, go take some time, prepare. And I mean, it's not like the... If you go and spend three months rehabbing and then three months training, Tordi is still going to be there. He's going to wait until he gets the right dance party. He's no fool. Force Griffin could be there. Shogun Rua could be there, but Matilda doesn't have a dance party yet. So, like, you've got opportunities. Don't squander them by trying to take on a top guy on three weeks, just four weeks. Exactly. So, we're thinking Franklin versus Rashad's probably the best bet of the choices you have, probably, and cool. Yeah, Franklin versus Rashad. It makes sense. I mean, I think Franklin versus Nogara would be perfectly fine to you. That's the main event. Yeah. Well, what are you saying? Pull Rashad right off the card entirely? Yeah, that card can't take the last Rashad. So, you can't have Franklin known the little Nogas or main event. Nope. You got to have Rashad fight somebody. So, you can boot Rashad. [laughter] So, it's a good day to be a fighter who was previously busted for elevated testosterone. Name Mark Ward has had his athletic commission suspension lifted. It cannot fight whenever he wants. It doesn't mean he's back in the UFC, but he can now fight. Well, the reason Dana was ticked off in him is not because of the elevator testosterone. It's because he didn't tell Dana that the other testosterone was elevated. But if it wasn't elevated-- Until the day off, you know, like Dana found out when the commission suspended his main event. So, Dana's being being unsuspended by the commission doesn't earn you the forgiveness of Dana White. You still have to grow up. Yeah. Now, Chill Sonnen, he is included to fight everywhere. Yeah, he had the same issue. Thank God for Texas. But he returns in early October against Brian Stan. That's going to be awesome. Sure to be a number one contender's fighting. How can it not be? Yeah. And yeah, so I was about to say three guesses what's David's taking in. Is he taking place in? Yeah, Texas. Texas. The Wild West. But you know what better main event can you have in Texas than the two All-American-- Not actually the main event though. Oh, okay. Well, what better fight? Sorry. Well, what is the main event of that show? Uh, early-- I can't remember. I was like into it, but this is-- Well, in any case, call me in that, yeah. What's that being said? I love the fact that Chill, the first thing he does when he comes back is give this interview where he's already calling out Silva, you know, looking to be drinking scotch as is he-- Do you mean the era of the Hawaiianian interview? Yeah. Amazing. He goes off. He'll fight Vonderly Silva. He'll fight Anderson Silva. He'll fight Bigfoot Silva. He'll fight anyone. And then when he-- what did he say about the no-gares? He said when the no-gares first came to America, they saw a bus and they tried to feed it a carrot. And I sat there by myself watching this crying. Oh, Chill. I haven't seen it. I haven't seen that yet. Yeah. That guy can talk. I saw somebody posted on your wall. You should check it out. Yeah, it's about a half an hour of him and era of Hawaii, just brilliant. Yeah. Well, I mean, in terms of talking about fight, he's great. You still got to get past Brian Stan, so-- Not easy, but I'm not. And I can't see him being able to trash talk Brian Stan very much. Don't look past Brian Stan. Thanks for watching. Don't try to take Brian Stan off. Because you will. You will succeed. He will eat you. We'll backfire. I am really looking forward to that fight. But it's a good matchup, though, because Stan's got that explosive striking power, but Chill Sonnen is just an amazing wrestler. Chill Sonnen is probably strong enough to be able to hold Brian Stan. But the question is, you know, is he's going to have that opportunity? He can definitely take him down, can Stan get back up? Well, keep in mind, Stan is also very, very big. He is. So chill son. Yeah. Something's a big, great matchup. Absolutely, absolutely. But Stan, like, I think he's going to be able-- if the camp he's training with, they're going to have him prepped to get back up. Absolutely. So, I mean, it's going to be a great fight. I'm looking forward to that. One thing I want to make a quick comment out. I love Texas, and I hate Texas' commission. Please stop. You know? Like, I don't understand what it is about this commission, but the worst refereeing you can possibly imagine. That's true. Worse than Pennsylvania last a few weeks ago. No, granted. Priscillating in New England, I'm not great either. Pennsylvania was ridiculously awful. But Texas, like-- They've had a few. They've had a mix-ups. Few monstrous mix-ups on refereeing. And then the thing is, they're going to license anyone. Yes. They don't care. It is the Wild West. Yeah, if you come in there with a murder conviction, they're going to license you. If you come in there testosterone conviction, they're going to license you. It doesn't matter what you've done. You know, Josh Barnett, Chalcon, and Merdiago. Now, here's the thing. Do you guys think, like, I know that they allow it. Do you guys have an issue with Josh Barnett and Chalcon in fighting in Texas? They're allowed to fight there. Is it up to the UFC not to let them? I don't have a problem with them fighting on it all in Texas, because Texas is obviously going to allow them. I do have a problem with the fact that the law isn't the law. Do you know what I mean? If you get banned everywhere else, you can go to Texas. And once you go to Texas, and everywhere else has to accept that-- Well, the laws are different in Las Vegas as well for other things. Yeah, but-- It's not the UFC's responsibility to say, "Oh, no, sorry, we don't want to make money. We're not going to have these guys fight." They're a lot ridiculous. They're not breaking any laws on the fight. If the law states that you can go and fight in Texas, and the UFC sees money in your fight, then, of course, they're going to put the fight on. Why not? But, you know, I've heard the argument, well, Chal's already been out for 14 months and et cetera, et cetera. Which is a good argument, actually. But, you know, if you've not been out for 14 months, why not say, you know what, take a couple months, a couple months of extra, and get back into California? Yeah, because Chalcon is not allowed to fight anywhere else. Tribal, take care of your issues. Get your conviction right. And then come back. You're saying UFC should do this? Yeah. Make them fight in California. So, that's where you got suspended from. They don't go back there. I don't see how much gain there is to that, though. Like, how does it benefit the UFC to do that? It's tough, actually. It's tough, actually. I see. I see where day's coming from, though. I mean, maybe UFC should be standing up and saying, look, you know, we want our fighters to be legit everywhere, just as a whole. But, if they're allowed to fight at the moment, I've got no issue with letting Chalcon in front. You know what, I know that you're like, it's going to be an exciting fight. Chalcon is going to make it entertaining. It's going to do good by rating. And by all those metrics, it's going to be a fun, fun fight. With that being said, I look at this as a symptom of a larger problem. Right now, I don't think I could name 10 fighters in the UFC or Strike Force that I would absolutely swear on my mother's grave that these guys are not doping. Everyone-- You can say it about a lot of sports. Like, I absolutely can say that a lot about every sport. But I don't really watch football, so I know that the entire offensive line of the Pittsburgh Steelers may well be on steroids. But I don't watch Steelers games. I do watch every single UFC event, and I don't want to see drug monkeys winning everything. And I also don't think it's good for the long-term health of the fighters and the athletes to be using steroids. Well, it's not like Strike Force. It's not like Strike Force only runs in Texas. They run all over the place. Yeah. Right, but even if everyone now knows how to cycle off on time, Nate Markwood's problem was not that, you know-- Well, obviously everyone doesn't know. And also, how do you draw the line between substances that are banned or not? Like, if you're scraping deer antler, is that a problem? If you're eating shark cartilage, is that a problem? These are things that need a clearer definition. If you really want to base your love for MMA-- Well, the other thing is, if you're going to be using steroids, go into deer antler, go into shark cartilage. It's just natural alternatives. But with that being said, I do prefer a clean sport. I think everyone does. And I am ticked off that. Now, it isn't just a matter of weight cutting. It's also knowing how to cycle off of your steroids properly to not get caught. Because you know exactly when you're going to get tested, you're going to be training in your camp the rest of the time you're never going to get a random test. So you've got to say, OK, well, this is the date I've got to be cleaned by. And that is a problem with Markort. It was not that everyone knows-- everyone knows full well why his talis testosterone levels were elevated. Yeah, of course. Well, it's probably the record that he's failed. Yeah, he's saying, well, OK, well, the day of the fight, I would have been fine. My steroid levels have been back under control. So you were suffering a lot. OK, coming from somebody who watches just about every sport, it really-- even with like Barry Bonds and baseball and Rafael Palnero and these guys, I'm not-- I don't come from the school where they should have like the asterisks next to the home run record. Honestly, everyone-- just about everyone, if they had the opportunity to get away with using steroids, will use them and use performance enhancing drugs. So it's not something that's going to stop me from enjoying the sport. I'm just going to basically plead ignorance. And if somebody gets caught, then punished accordingly. But other than that, I'm not going to just assume that everyone's on drugs. And guys do get caught. You can't say they don't. Guys do get caught. It's a flawed system, but it's not completely useless. It's not completely useless, but it's certainly a flawed, flawed system. I certainly-- there's-- I love GSP. I wouldn't bet that he was in on steroids right now. I would not take that bad. Because he's so ripped, he's so athletic. And the fact of the matter is-- It seems like a water in shark heart. Every single person in this camp seems to be having issues. Well, I'm not going to name any names, but look at all the guys who fight over in pride who come over here and don't look the same. They're obviously not fighting exactly like they were in pride. Yeah, well, they didn't drug test at all in pride, right? So I mean, so are these drug tests-- Some of the players that were in pride, because it's gone on the record, said they gave us steroids. Absolutely. But that means that-- that means the drug testing must be working in some way. Like even-- like, I'm not going to name names. But these guys don't look the same when they come over here. They're obviously stopping something. Right, but I mean, like, you have to learn a different system. And you can tell a lot of guys who've made that adaptation. You know, as I said, Markard's problem was not that everyone knows what he was doing. He was just-- he wasn't-- he didn't cycle off fast enough. Do you know what I mean? And now they've said, well, you would have cycled off fast enough if we hadn't tested you too early. Well, so we're going to lift your suspension. Sorry, Nate. So as you guys know, Carl is counted as my hero. Yes. And he pretty much earned a welterweight title shot with that knockout of Kim a few weeks ago. He didn't want to wait around for eight months. He decided he'd rather fight in the meantime and risk his title shot. Instead of an easy-- Poor decision. Instead of an easy fight. Yeah. He just called OBJ Pen and got it. Wow. You know what, though? He's-- he could win that fight. He can. I don't see-- I can. I wouldn't bet on it, but he can. It would be a very good fight. I would bet on Carl is counted. I hope he wins. Right. And even if he loses, it's not going to set him back that far. The story of BJ Pen is that he has struggled with guys in when he's fighting in welterweight because he gives up such a size advantage. Condit, who's a big welterweight. Yep, 62. He's going to have a serious, serious size advantage on BJ Pen. He's also really, really quick and he's got knockout power. Yep. So I mean, in a pure striking matchup, he can take BJ. Condit's got it in a pure striking match. But absolutely. BJ Pen is-- You know, he is a top pound for pound fighter. He can take anyone in the world with a knife. Tuna fight. This is risking your title shot. This is who gets GSP. No, he's risking a title shot that's going to be there anyway. It just might take a little while longer. Because if he loses that fight, he's going to have to win another three. He's set back at least a year. Definitely. No, no one's getting title shots tonight. In the UFC right now, no one's getting title shots on two fights. He loses to BJ Pen. He has one more fight and he's right back there. Well, I don't think he needs three fights after he loses. I think that no matter who wins this fight, ultimately, we should talk about the winner because they're definitely getting a GSP. Absolutely. I wouldn't be positive. BJ, I guess so it gets GSP. How would he? Who would you say? He's already lost to him twice. But who would you say instead, though? I'm saying you still have Fitch on deck. You've still got-- You got Fitch, you just had a draw with BJ Pen. Yeah, and he won't have been coming off a loss. You've got Jake Ellenberger if he beat Shields. You've got Hughes and Diego Sanchez. You've got Hughes and Diego Sanchez. Actually, he won't fight. I'm actually going to hold this off because next week, we're going to run down the entire welterweight division because we don't just-- Yes. Like, we put that off for so long. Yeah. So next week, we'll talk all the welterweights. Yeah. UFC felt a further weight champion. Jose Aldo says if he beats Kenny Florian, he wants to do dream matches at 135 and 155. Are there dream matches for him at those weight classes? Yeah, cruising for him. Is that the dream match? No, but I mean-- Maybe it's his dream. Yeah, it could be. But maybe him and Edgar, I would really like to see it. You know what, though? Ultimately, I would say that if you really wanted to do a pound-for-pound list, GSP obviously should be at the top of it to my mind. But Frankie Edgar, Jose Aldo, and Domin Cruz should certainly be in the top five. Yeah. And with him wanting to prove I should be at the top of the top five, why not? You know, he wants to be the best player in the world. But he still got a featherweight championship to defend, though. And you do have to have the title has to have its dignity. You can't be jumping outside of the division. That's what we were criticizing Anderson Silva for doing. This is where I'm coming from. But I don't think it's time yet. I think he's obviously got a lot more defending to do. He's still a really, really young guy. But the fact that he's ambitious to want to take on two of the greatest fighters in the world, yeah, you're a fighter. Yeah, I know. But you'd be Mark Humnick and Kenny Florian. That's not cleaning out a division. There are guys. No, there's plenty of guys. And he's-- like I said, he's still a young guy. He's still got plenty of time in that division. I think, though, I don't think that Aldo and Cruz is a dream match right now, because I think people need to see more of Aldo and Cruz. I don't think he can make 135. He was gassed at 145. That's true, too. I do think that Cruz can make 145, though. Well, yeah, but that's not what he's saying. But that's Cruz's decision, not Aldo. That's right. Aldo's the one who wants to fight. Aldo at the weigh-ins for-- we were at the weigh-ins for UFC 129. And he looked like he was dying to get 145. He's never ever making 135. No. I do think, though, Cruz can go up to 145 without too much difficulty. And in three, four years, give those guys three or four years of three fights a year or three wins a year each, people are going to want to see that fight. Do you guys think they're both going to have the title in three or four years? No, definitely not. I think Cruz might, and I think Aldo might. And do you think it happened in three or four years? He's talking after Florian. That's the question there. Yeah, no, after Florian's-- He's talking next year. After Florian's way too soon to me, you've still got a lot of guys in the division. You've got to fight. What's really interesting is the fact that he's basically not even considering Florian a competitor. I was saying, after Florian, I want to fight this guy. I mean, that's dangerous doing that. Because Florian's-- I mean, yes, Florian has a history of choking in the championship fights, but I would not overlook any Florian. Well, to me, I think there's a lot of the Rashad Jardin factor here. Florian just fought your teammate, Diego Nunez. You've got a chance to scout the guy out. You know exactly how he fights now from a guy that you know he's going to steer you right. I think if Jose Aldo thinks he can beat Kenny Florian, Jose Aldo can probably beat Kenny Florian. Well, Jose Aldo can beat anyone at Featherweight, but I'm just saying he shouldn't be looking past Florian. Don't look past Florian, but the fact that he's a-- as the Featherweight Champion, he's assuming he can beat a challenger. Come on. That's how you lose a belt, and that's how GSP loses a title. That's how Ryan Bader lost his spot. That's right. So there aren't any UFC or strike force cards coming up this weekend, but there are a couple of shows coming up. There's the next dream show. And I thought I would put money on a dream. They are still alive. They found some money. They're back this weekend. They find like a, you know, brown paper bag. But where do they find this money? I'm not saying there'll be a lot of extra shows. There's no mainstream Japan, they shook. But this weekend, it'll be on HGNet. Gagard Musasi is defending his dream, like heavyweight title against Hiroshi Zuma. Lawrence Romskis is fighting, is having a rematch with Sakurai, which should be good. And there's a finals of the dream Featherweight tournament. It's not a bad card. And just taking off the card, Todd Duffy versus Nick Gaston, just got taken off the card. I would have liked to see Todd Duffy by him. Yeah, I guess. I mean, I'm not as interested in him since that Russo knockout. Well, there's no way he can beat Gaston. Nobody fights like Gaston. You can wait for that one. So they're not-- Four doesn't eggs every morning. Every last day she was covered with air. Who would have thought you'd get some beauty in the beast wrapped up in the hammer today? And Bellator 47 is next week, July 23, live on MTV. You guys will actually be there doing press for it. Yeah, absolutely. Thank you for Bellator for inviting us. So we're going to be looking forward to covering that. Now, the Joe Warren Featherweight title matches off, as I said, last week. I'm so fortunate I would have loved to see a warrant, but there's definitely going to be some good fights in the car that I'm excited about. Chris Hordeski just signed up. On two weeks notice, he's going to be fighting there. There'll be the semi-finals for the Bellator Featherweight tournament, which I'm excited for. Adrian Willey, a guy we just saw fight recently, local. He's great. He's back on the car. Oh, great, good. And former Ultimate Fighter 10 contestant, Zach Jensen, will be fighting. I thought he went to jail. Stuff happened, wrongful, death stuff. He's out and fighting. Oh, good for him. All right, so it should be a good card. Look forward to that interview. We're going to be covering that one live on the show. So we'll do a little bit of a web special, I believe. And we're going to talk about it on the Wednesday. Yeah, we'll do some Bellator stuff over the next couple of weeks, too. And yeah, that's-- we're pretty much running out of time. I think it's because it looks like Bellator is going to get that spike deal more and more. Oh, yeah, yeah. Bellator is definitely worth watching now. And yeah, we'll throw in that Joe Dorkson interview. So without further ado, ladies and gentlemen, Joe Dorkson joins us on the hammer. So I'm here with Joe Dorkson, former UFC fighter and aware of a really, really impressive match here of the score fighting championships. Joe, how do you feel about your win tonight? I feel good. You know, winning's always better than losing, but winning tonight was great because I had a tough opponent. It was a tough fight. And I was able to push through and come out with a win. And it wasn't easy. And that makes it all that much, much more special. Now, you're really known for your incredible submissions, but this fight, you chose to mix it up on your feet a lot. Was that part of your game plan? Or was this just really good stuff in the takedowns? I just didn't want to be obvious about going for takedowns. I didn't want to wear it myself out trying to get takedowns unless they were there. He left a few openings. I got a few-- I got on top a few times. But I find that the better my striking gets, the easier it is to find the openings for a takedown. If I'm not desperate for a takedown, then it'll just come to me. Obviously, this fight was contested mostly on the feet. And I'm OK with that. I think I did all right. I took some shots, but I landed just as many, maybe more. So yeah, I mean, I'm not just a grappler anymore, I suppose. And then most people should know that by now, but some still don't. So you're multi-dimensional? I believe I am, yeah. So if you've been training with anyone in particular, just to really improve your striking, is anyone that's been a big influence for this camp? Well, I mean, my coach. I've been training with him for nine years. He's my Muay Thai coach. She said to be the godfather of the Dintality, World Muay Thai champion. And while a former champion, I guess he's retired now. And now he just makes me miserable. But yeah, I've been working with him for nine years. And he's been a big part of all the success I've had. I think everything that I do on my feet is a credit to what he's been teaching me. So without having met him, he's starting to train with him, I think I would have been finishing this business a long time ago. So it's an honor to have to know him and be able to work with him. And he comes out to all my fights. He's really supportive and stuff. So I just feel really fortunate to have him with me out of my side. Now, you've been in the UFC before. I've taught it to his applications. Are you any plans to go back? The UFC has been really bad luck for me. Out of nine fights, I've won two of them. It's weird, it's strange. I seem to be winning, and it's a weird situation for me. However, I do want to try one more time. Before I give up this career, before I call it, I want to go back, I want to try it one more time. I don't know what's going to happen. And when lose or draw, I won't complain. I just want to try it one more time. What about a shot at Straight Force of Belter? Would you ever consider fighting in one of the smaller leagues as well, or just? Yeah, absolutely. I mean, fighting's fighting. This fight was tougher than some of the fights I've had in the UFC. There's tough guys all over the world now. It doesn't matter where you're fighting, you're in for some hard work. So at the end of the day, I just want to fight. It doesn't matter if it's for the UFC or for somebody else. But before I retire, I would like to try one more time and see what happens. But at the end of the day, I got to punch a guy in the head today, and I got to be on TV. And I'm like the happiest little kid you've ever met. Now, you're a really good guy, but even previous striking. Is there any one more thing that you'd like to hear games for your next opponent? Well, I've been working on everything. I feel pretty comfortable everywhere. Obviously, grappling with my first thing, all the striking came after. And there's a guy, Spencer Lalani. He's been working with the guys at our team back at the Kane Fighting Center. He's been there for several years. He's a good wrestler and a good coach, good instructor. And he's been working with kids and with fighters. And I feel like I'm a better wrestler because I've been working with him. And obviously, it's something I always want to work on, but I don't really feel like I have any huge weaknesses in my game. Possibly wrestling may not be my strongest point, but it's getting stronger all the time. So I just want to keep improving and keep being a better fighter. Now, if there was any one person you could call out in the middleweight, so anyone dream fight you had, who would you like to fight next? I'm not that kind of guy. I just want to fight guys that are tough, guys that are entertaining. I want to leave the fans feeling like they did something or that they saw something special. I don't have anybody specific in mind. I don't have any grudges. I'm not that kind of fighter. I just take one fight as it comes. And one at a time as they come and do the best I can. Well, thank you very much. Take the time to have a word with me. This is Joe Dorkson.