Transcript of BISPING'S BELIEVE YOU ME Podcast: Eddie Hall Vs Tyron Woodley? Ft. Eddie Hall & Darren Elkins

Conceive, believe, achieve. Shut the fk up. You're listening to believe you me with Michael the Count Bisbing.

You know my name yet? And Anthony Lionhardt-Smith.

How are you, buddy?

I'm very good, mate. Yeah, I'm good, mate. How are you?

I'm good, buddy. I'm good. Thanks for your time today. We were texting a few weeks ago, and obviously, since we last spoke, you went out there and absolutely destroyed those two guys. Were they brothers?

Yeah, they were brothers.

You beat the shit out of them, mate. Talk to me about that because that was mental.

With any fight, there's always a risk. I think Taking the fight on, it doesn't seem it, but it was quite a big deal for me because fighting two guys at the same time, especially brothers. You've got brothers, Michael? You have, I do.

They used to get shit out of me every day.

Yes, but But I'm sure you've had some fights on the street with your brothers. And because it's your brother, that heightened adrenaline, that heightened... You're going to give it, you're going to risk your life to save your brother, aren't you? So there was a bit more risk there than I think everyone gives I read it for. They were 65 kilo guys. It all went my way, but it could have gone terribly wrong and I could have got battered by two midgets, so that would have been terrible.

And when you're the world's strongest man, that's not a good look.

No, no, no, exactly. So there was definitely a lot to lose taking that fight, that's for sure.

Oh, my God. That's hilarious. Yeah, I know what you're saying about the brothers. A long time I go, me and my two brothers, we did have a few fights against some other people. And we used to joke the Bisping brothers together, we are undefeatable. So I know what you're saying. There's definitely that... I don't know what it is, that kinship, that brotherhood kicks in. Let me ask you, though, going into that, what was the game plan? Or what did you expect them to do? Because two people on one, you could be very strategic. There's about a million different ways they could have approached that. What did you think they were going to do? And what was your game plan?

I think their tactics were to wear me down, like get me to chase them around the ring, draw me into the middle and attack from both sides at once. And I was quite aware, because how How else would you approach someone like myself? You're not going to come head-on. And then my tactics were to put my back against the cage and just keep both of them in view at all times. And basically, if one got in arm's reach, just absolutely go nuts on one and ignore the other one because you can't hit people at the same time. So that was my tactic, really.

That's actually really smart if you put your back up against the fence because obviously, a man your size, that's what they're going to try and do. They're going to try and jump on your back, choke you out. There was a fighter in pride back in the day, Zulo Zinho, and he was absolutely gigantic, and I used to train with him a little bit, and that was my tactic every time. Take his back and try and choke him out because he'd throw me around like a rag doll. But dude, that one punch that you landed on that guy, I felt sorry for him, man. You've floored him.

I felt sorry for him as well. It was such a sweet science punch because he walked onto it at the same time. You've hit a lot of people in your life, and you usually feel something on the end of your fist. I didn't feel anything. It just went through his face. It was like a hit of feather pillar. And that's when I was like... Because I didn't feel anything, it was like, Oh, that must have... Because his head just spun round. I was like, Oh, man, I'm going to go to prison now. But luckily, he regained consciousness a couple of minutes later and was okay. He had a sore head for a few days. Yeah.

Did you talk to him after?

Yeah, no, we did. I went and made sure they were okay after the fight. But you know what? Fair play to him. They've got to have bulls of steel to get in the cage of someone my size as well. And they did. And a lot of this stuff before the fight, we had a few... What's the right word? We had a few agreed 3 minutes in place where I couldn't actually put my body weight and slam them into the ground because you don't want to break people's necks and stuff. I was saying, Do you want eight-ounce gloves? Do you want twelve-ounce gloves? They're like, No, we want four-ounce gloves. And I was like, Are you for sure? I was like, Okay.

Well, they've got to maximize their impact. If they're going to do any damage.

I just felt sorry for them, man. It was Yeah, it was good fun, though.

It was good fun. Yeah, and it was good fun to watch. And congrats, mate. Congrats. As I said, we were texting a few weeks ago, and obviously, I'm seeing a few rumors around here and there. But one name that I saw, and that's why I texted you, was Tyron Woodley, the former UFC welterweight champion of the world. Is there any truth to that? Has that gained any traction since then?

I mean, his name has never come under my nose, but I'm not saying there isn't any truth to it because I've been talking I'm getting to several outfits, trying to get another fight under my belt, so to say. And it's probably true that somebody reached out to Tyron Woodley saying, Would you fight Eddie Hall? So yeah, it's It probably is true.

Yeah. All right. Well, he did say recently that he's definitely coming back to MMA as well. So you never know. A bit of a step up in weight class for him again, but still. I see a rumor of you, maybe the Mountain from Game of Thrones. Any truth to that one?

No, I don't think... I mean, he's stuck into his strong man at the minute. I don't think he wants to get back into fighting, but if he did, I'm all for it.

Podjanaowski?

There's a lot of talk with me versus Pudinowski, five times World's strongest man. He's been doing MMA for 15 years, 16 years, I think. I've got to be strictly honest, he's a hard bastard. Of course, he's had his ass handed to him like any fighter has, but the ones he's won, you're like, for me now, he's put some good world champions on their ass and done very well. I want to get stuck into that. I'm trying my best to get a contract put in place to fight Marius, hopefully early next year. So I'm going quite heavy training for that, really.

Nice. And obviously you'll be there. Do you train with Tom Aspenal? Is that the gym that you go to?

When camp starts, I think that's where I I go to a lot for my sparring because he's got some big lads up there. And Tom's great. I can ring Tom up and say, Can we jump in the ring next week? We could do a bit of sparring, and he's brilliant. And luckily, he doesn't take my head off my shoulders. He's a good sparring partner.

Tom's the man. He really is. And people are sick of me saying how good of a man he is. Anyway, so I'm not going to go any further. I was reading, obviously, we're going to speak today, so I gave you a little Google search. And I saw an article recently, I think It was from Loughbury University, and they did a test on you, that your bottom half of your body, the tendons and stuff like that, are twice as thick or as strong, or you're just genetically gifted compared to average men. And when I was reading it, I thought, that's a bit of a slap in the face for you because you've worked your ass off, and they're like, No, it's just genetics. What did you think of that?

I thought it was a good study, to be fair. I think what was It's a surprise to me. I think the leg muscles, they call them the... What do they call them? The rope muscles?

The rope?

Rope muscles or something like that.

Rope muscles, that was it.

Rope muscles. So it's the muscles that are closer to your skeleton, not the outer muscles. And I've got four times as much rope muscles as a normal person. But the tendons are only, I think it's 15 % bigger than a normal person. So I've got four times the muscle mass, but only 15 % bigger tendons. So it just goes to show the tent style strength of my tendons must be like marine rope. Being able to deadlift half a ton off the floor, the tendons have got to be so strong. So it was really interesting. And I think just highlighting the fact that through, God, 20 years of lifting weights, that's what it does to the skeleton. It makes the body more resilient and more stronger in that respect.

Yeah, because when it comes to strength, ultimately, it's the posterior chain. That's the most important part. And anytime I'm training MMA, it's the same thing. When I started back in the day, my coach used to talk about the posterior chain because that's where the core strength is generated, right?

Yeah, 100 %. And I think MMA fires, I think that's the most important thing as well. Punching power, it's always the people with the strongest back that have got the best punching power.

Interesting. So it's also So the increased punching power, you would advise to strengthen the back.

So I've done a lot of research into this, actually. So to get the most punch power, you have to have a super strong back and also your grip. So I trained recently with a climber called Magnus Mitbo, and I took him in the ring with me. And afterwards, my coach said to me, he's like, What's your name, Ed? So I'm not even joking. He would make an amazing fighter. His punch power was out of this world, and he never heard a punch in his life. And it was just that grip strength and the back strength just made him such a good fighter.

The core strength that they have, for one, is ridiculous. What would you say to a young man or woman that wants to start on a journey down the path that you went down? What advice would you give them?

Don't bother. Jesus. Who wants to finally put the body through what I did for 20 years just for a shitty gold trophy? Jesus Christ.

Come on, mate. You're living a good life. Don't lie at it. I see you all over the place. I saw you on... What was it? Pc World. I saw a commercial of you on watching style the other day.

No, Curry's. Yes. I did a commercial of Curries.

For anyone in America that doesn't know what Curry's is. Curry's is like a store where you go buy a washing machines and computers and all the rest of it. And in the commercial, it's brilliant. You've got your phone, you put it down and you pick up a medicine bowl, smash it. Oh, no, it's your laptop, isn't it? That's a pretty good sponsor, Eddie.

Yeah, you've stopped me there. I've done all right, but in general, it's not that good or rewarding sport as people think. But If people are going to get into it, I would just say consistency, and a bit like fighting, you have to lose a lot of fights to get the wins. And I think you've got to realize that with the gym is you've got to have a lot of failures. You've got to attempt those lifts, fail a lot of lifts to be able to get those gold medals. I remember I kept losing competitions like World's Strongest Man, Britain's Strongest Man. And my psychiatrist I was working with said to me at the time, But what if I told you, you were only eight losses away from winning the World's Strongest Man. And that's when it clicked in my head. It's like, you've got to go through those losses. You've got to have those failures to be the best. So have faith in the system.

That's really interesting because I talk about that all the time, persistency and not giving up on yourself. Because, again, to bring myself into it, it was the same thing for me because every time I was doing it, every time I would lose, I'm talking about, I would learn a little bit, I would make some tweaks, I would change my diet, I wouldn't do this as much, I wouldn't do that as much, I would recover more and so on and so forth, maybe change the way that I cut weight. And ultimately, eventually, you figure it out and then you get there. Is that what you're talking about?

Basically, yeah. It's the same. I mean, fightings, especially like that. You've got to have those losses. You've got to have those knockouts, unfortunately, to go away and put your tail between your legs to come back and train harder and eat better and sleep better. I'm just going to change the settings because it looks like I've got a makeup setting on here.

Well, you look like you've been on the sunbed, and you don't have to lie, I know you're not a bodybuilder.

So there's a touch-up appearance. I've just turned it off. You can see my wrinkles now.

You look good, buddy. You're looking There you go. You look good. I want to go back to what you were talking about before with the punch power, because that's really interesting, because people always say, certainly in the fire world, that the punch power is... I'm not a religious man, but they say it's God-given. You're either born with it or you're not. You've got it or you haven't. So what research went into this? You said you did a bit of study on punching power. What things did you look at?

Well, did you catch... So I did the Power Cube thing at the UFC where you punch the cube. So I've got the highest score on that right now. It's something like- Really? Yeah, it was 210,000.

Sounds like a lot.

Yeah.

Is that 210,000 pounds of pressure per square inch?

I don't know how they work it out. But Alex, is it Pereira? I shouldn't watch his name. Is it Pereira? Yeah, Alex Pereira.

What did he get? You know.

So he had the record for ages. He had 190,000. And then I came along and smashed it and did two turns, so I was quite proud of myself. But then another gentleman brought a cube, put it against a brick wall, and I hit that as hard as I could, and I got 203 kilos. That was measured in kilos. So whatever, that one punch generated 203 kilos on the pad at one time. So I don't know. I don't know. I'd quite fancy 203 kilo on one spot in my face just for a spot.

I'm just thinking of those poor 65 kilo little baskets. It's like two Alex Barreras, Yeah, pretty much. You know you're going to get everyone coming after you now when this comes out. He's sitting there saying he punches harder than Pereira.

Mate, have you been in the UFC center?

Yeah, of course.

That cube is on the wall. The thing is, everyone's like, Oh, yeah, but Alex Pereira only hit it once. I'm telling you, I've been that center, and they queue up all through the day hitting that thing.

All through the day.

So the fact that I just walked in and smashed it a few times and hit 2:10. I was like, You guys, they can stand there all day and try and beat that and they won't get it.

Yeah, I've like- Mic drop, one crack, four off. I'm out of here, you're losers. I'll tell you one person that doesn't hit that cube. Can you guess who? Me. I'm not having that. I'm like, This old bastard, he's soft. Jesus Christ. What else is going on, Eddie, before I let you go?

I think the main thing for me is fighting Marius Podnosky. I really want that fight. I think it's something that people want to see as well. Two World's Strongest Man giants colliding at once. It's just exciting, isn't it? I'm doing arm wrestling with Neil Pickle.

I saw that. Yeah, with Neil Pickle. So I'm actually arm wrestling Brian Shore in the middle of December.

And I think that's going to go down in Vegas, actually.

When is that going to be in Vegas? Because I'm going to be there in December.

December the 14th. Las Vegas.

That's a Sunday, right? Or something like that?

Probably be a Saturday.

Yeah. God damn. I'm going to be in Tampa, Florida.

Oh, well, never mind. On holiday?

Oh, yeah. On holiday. I never get to go on holiday, mate. Work, work, work, work. Cheeky drink, work.

Mate, are you like me, right? So if I fly away on business and I'll be like, go Las Vegas for a week, do a lot of filming and whatever, come back, I'll have a lion the next day. And my wife will be like, Oh, am I lying, have we? Have we just been on for a holiday? Every time I leave the country, always for business, it's always a holiday. I can never just go away. Do you get the same?

I can't say I do. I would love to for comedy value. For comedy value, I would love to say that.

I'm going to use this to share my wife that your wife lets you go away abroad on work, and it's not cool on holiday. That's great.

She lets me sleep in. She brings me coffee in the morning. I can't. She's a saint, and she's put up with me for 25 goddamn years. You know what I mean? She needs a big award. Harrington, what's up, buddy?

Well, so I was wondering, Eddie, not to sign you up for competitions you're not really interested in, but you're talking about arm wrestling. You're talking I know where this is going. I'm wondering, is there any chance you would ever sign up for Power Slap? Oh, my God.

You know what? That's why I actually ran. Have you been there in person at Power Slap?

Bro, I'm the commentator.

Mate, it I'm evil. So I ran wanting to buy. I literally watched the man get slapped, fall down, and I watched his chest. He stopped breathing for two minutes. And when I saw that, When I saw that, I was like, Fuck this. You'd have to pay me. In fact, no, I'll take it all back. Everyone's got a price. Everybody's got a price. You get me the right money, I'll come and do Power Slap.

I might know some people there. I'm commentating Power Slap in Saudi Arabia. I leave at the weekend. There's another one coming up soon as well. I might know a man who knows a man who knows a man, and I reckon you could slap the shit out of someone.

Michael, you get me a good figure sent across on a text, mate, and I'll I'll turn up, man.

I'll turn up. Okay. Harrington, was there any good questions on Twitter for Eddie before we let him go?

Just the one from Cory Miller. He wants to know who in the UFC do you think would do well at Strongman, if anyone?

That's a great question.

And before you answer that, before you give me your name, obviously, fighting, you're going to be dedicated and all the rest of it, but what attributes do you need as an individual to make it as a strong man? Because I'm sure there's a lot that goes into it that even someone like me has no idea about.

I've got a name that's come to mind, but I'll describe it first. So long leavers, so long arms, long legs, long torso. If you've got all those attributes, you're already miles ahead of everyone else.

Sorry to interrupt. Really? Because I always say, because my son, Lucas, he's only 14 and he's lifting, but he's got super long limbs. And I'm like, your range of motion is so much further. So don't worry about it, son. That's why you're struggling. But you disagree.

I disagree because your body can hold more muscle mass than the shorter guys. So these guys like Brian and Thor and Tom Stoltman, they're all like 6'8, 6'9, and they're just so much stronger than everyone else just because they can hold so much more muscle mass. If you've got height in strongman, then you've got such a big advantage. Interesting. So to answer the question who I think could transfer over very well, I think Francis and Ganeu would absolutely smash strong one. I think it's just got that natural raw strength. Was he like shoveling shit for years?

Sand.

Sand. That endurance and raw strength, he would dominate. He would kill.

Interesting. What about our boy Tom?

Tom Asperal. I tell you what, he's strong.

Just say he's a pussy. He's too weak. Just say that line for me, Eddie. Tom's too weak.

This is going to be cut up and sent to him, and there it is. Of course it is. Tom Aspinal is a right pussy. Bench 20 kilo. He be shit.

Pathetic. Eddie, thanks for your time, mate. Always a pleasure talking to you. Thank you very much. I'll let you go, mate.

Thank you. Cheers, Michael. Now see you, man.

All right, Hamilton. I'll tell you what, What a nice guy.

Dude, for the beast? He's an absolute sweetheart.

That blew my mind because I've always thought, and maybe I use it as an excuse to myself because I'm sure to guys, With shorter arms. Typically, you see guys in the gym when you go to a meat heads gym, you get the short little stocky guys with the weight belt on, and they've got the gloves on. They got the whole shebang. They've got the vest with the big, bloody rips here. You know what I mean? I just think, You dickhead. Why you come? It's LA fitness. You're not at Muscle Beach. Do you know what I mean? But I always thought, Yeah, they're short and they got a small range of motion. That's why they can move so much. So I thought that was really interesting.

Yeah, I always think of the same way, super compact guys. You say they're built like a fire hydra or whatever. I always assume those are the guys who are going to be able to deadlift the most. But the way he's talking about it, that does make a ton of sense.

No, it does. It does. And welcome to the show, everybody. Obviously, that was Eddie Hall, the world's former strongest man, five times strongest man. Thank you for joining us. Him versus Tyron Woodley. I wouldn't advise that, Tyron. All the best, Tien. And I know he's talking about coming back. I'm not sure if that's smart, whatever. We've talked about that before. But I don't think you're going to blast double Eddie Hall. That's for damn sure. Also, in a little bit on the show, we have the one and only, Darren the Damage, Elkins. Elkins fights this weekend, and he's just a guy that's got under the radar, in my opinion. He's had such a long career. I think he's had almost 40 professional fights, been around the UFC forever. And he wins some and he loses some. But my God, he shows up. He's got a great skillset, and he's always covered in blood at the end of every single goddamn fight, and his fights are truly inspirational. So I was looking at the fight card this week and I thought, we got to get Elkins on. And you said he's one of your favorite fighters.

Oh, yeah. I mean, this is a guy who, if you remember after that insane upset of Mirsad Bekhtik, where he was losing the whole fight, then he hits the head kick. He ended up getting himself a five-fight win streak at that point. It was like, This guy might be on the short track to a title. He loses to some guy who's coming up in the rankings, and it like those title hopes go away. That guy, Alexander Volkanovski.

Yeah, no, absolutely.

He's been right there for so much of his career, and people just like, he never gets talked about in that way.

He And then that's why I wanted to give him a platform. And he needs some recognition because he's probably not going to be around too much longer. Anyway, whatever. That's to come later in the show. Passion, drive, and patience. The formula for winning championships is also what keeps your ride or die alive. Ebay Motors has everything you need to maintain your vehicle and level it up to peak performance. Supercharges, roof racks, exhaust kits, LED headlights, and more. Whether you're into speed, power, or style, eBay Motors has you covered. With over 122 million parts for your number one ride or die, you'll always find exactly what you're looking for. And with eBay guaranteed fit, your car is guaranteed to fit your ride every time all your money back. Because with eBay Motors, you're burning rubber, not cash. With all the parts you need at the prices you want, it's easy to make your car the MVP and bring home A huge wint. Keep your ride or die alive at ebaymotors. Com. Eligible items only, exclusions apply. So it's funny that Eddie mentioned Francis Nganu there. Of course, Nganu returns this weekend against Hennon Ferrara. I think it's for the PFL Championship, but I'm not too concerned about that.

But it's interesting to see Nganu coming back to MMA. Of course, he was the UFC champion. He had the two boxing fights, probably made somewhere in in the region of $30 million if I was to hazard a guess. He's getting paid $12 million this weekend against Hedon Ferrara. And Tom Ashton came out this week and he was saying that Hedon Ferrara just isn't elite because one of the losses on his record was... What's his name? I forget now. Something... Without his record in front of me, I can't remember. But Tom said he wasn't elite. And what this guy did was because I watched the fight, took him down, got on top, pounded him out in about four minutes. But what I watched a couple of of these other fights because then the algorithm starts suggesting them. And this Ferrara guy got some good striking, and I was really, really impressed. So I did a video on this. I think there's a lot of pressure coming in. Almost on Nganu. Get it together, Mike. A lot of pressure on Nganu this week, simply because he lost the two fights boxing. Yeah, he got paid an absolute fortune.

He's getting paid an absolute fortune this weekend, but he wants to win. He's got the money. He wants to win. And of course, he had what happened early in the year with his son, sadly. And I don't even want to talk about that, but I feel like there's a lot of pressure on him, Garner.

Yes, certainly. He did in the initial press conference, the kick-off press conference for this fight, he did say this was going to be a tribute to his son who passed away. But did he really? Yeah, and that was his whole focus and motivation for all training camp and to get himself out of the bed in the morning. So you talk about the silk Sheets thing, right? You How do you get your head in the game for an MMA fight with $30 million in the bank? I think that's a pretty good way, right? To honor your son who passed away far too quickly and put you in a pretty dark place. Add to that the way Ferrera was talking about the I understand there was the translation mix up, but there is a chance that Ferrera was throwing some shade at that, and that's got to still light a fire under Nganu, whether it's real or imagined.

Yeah. What was the line that he said?

I think he said, My fight is going to be the worst thing that happened to Nganu this year.

That's right. And he said he didn't mean that. But it's interesting what you said there because you're absolutely right. To honor the memory of your son that passes away, you would think, I owe it to him to continue the family name and show up as the best version of myself. Because it's so easy to go away and just spiral into depression, disappear, take your money. I mean, he made, I don't know, let's say 30 a million off the boxing. He was already a millionaire from the UFC. So the man's a very, very wealthy guy. He doesn't need to fight. It would have been so easy to just go, right, this, I am just going on the biggest bender ever, which will be terrifying, by the way. We used to talk about this with Lewis back in the day. Imagine Francis Nganu comes into a bar, wasted, just mad and angry, foaming in the mouth. I'm like, How mad are they? I'm getting out of here. Maybe He saw that YouTube video. I'm out of the fire exit as soon as you can. Yes, so all the best to Francis Nganu this weekend. May the best man win.

What do you think, Hamenti? Who do you think takes it?

I have to lean Nganu based off of what Tom was saying. But I don't know, also from what Tom was saying, the guy who beat Ferreira was somebody who was able to take him down. I remember I watched the final where Ferreira won the million dollars and got himself a spot in the Bellator series against Bater. The narrative in that was he's going to get double-liked, he's going to get taken down, he's going to get held there. His takedown defense held up and he was able to dominate on the feet. Somebody like Ferreira, who is a little bit bigger than Nganu, who might hit a little bit harder, We just don't know. And who's likely going to make it a stand-up fight, it should be all fireworks.

Well, he's good on the feet. He really is. He uses a lot of feigns, he uses his reach well, uses his range. So it ain't going to be easy. But you got to think Nganu I don't know, they both hit hard. They both got one punch knockout power. And Garner would have improved with all that boxing work that he did against Mike Tyson. The big question is, how do you come back from a knockout like what he had against Anthony Joshua, where he was just, and I hesitate to use this term, but it's true, he was just absolutely outclassed. And Anthony Joshua looked phenomenal in that fight. He just took his time, looked for the openings, saw the rhythm, saw when And he should throw the punch, and then flat-lined him with every one that he threw. It was unbelievable. So anyway, best of luck to those guys.

Oh, wait, did you see Cowboy Wants to come back?

I did. I did. I did see that. Was there a video about it? Because I didn't see the video. Or is this him here? Let's have a look because I know he was all about the TRT and whatnot.

Oh, he's fully admitting in this video. Let's have a listen. A little promo for his comeback.

I need two more fights. When I retired, I told you I was getting my hair done and getting on steroids. I'm not over 50. I've been sitting on my mind for a while. So I'm over to transcend. The last two years, taking TRT, a bunch of peptides. Now we got a protocol for all you people. Oh, what if you get on it, you can't ever come out. Well, I now have to come out and piss clean.

Fight in a few months.

So watch this.

All right.

Yeah.

He's got his head of hair.

It's egregious at this point.

It's like Gordon Ryan's beard. He certainly does have a head of hair. He got the hair. The only thing he didn't get was the turkey teeth. He's got the TRT. He got the peptides. But he's also got the losses recently as well. I mean, how long has he been away now? A couple of years, something like that?

Two years.

Two years away.

Does Steroid Cowboy have losses?

Well, it's a weird It's a good one, isn't it? No, for sure. Because he's not the only one talking about coming back. Tony Ferguson said this week as well that he's too old to retire. I saw that Dana was talking about it. And I think Dana said that he's not interested. I think what did Saron say? He wants to come back and have two more, and that'll make it 50 professional fights.

Yeah, well, 50 fights under the Zufa banner. So between WEC and UFC, 50 fights, which is a pretty impressive number.

Oh, my God. No, that's a ridiculous number. It really is. Fifty fights on the Zufa. Jesus Christ. Yeah, I can't lie. The steroids, I mean, yeah, you get it out of your system, you're pissed clean, but you've still had advantages from that. And I think that would be the first thing that anybody would point to if they had half a brain straight away. But I think Dana said that if he wants to make money, maybe they'll figure something out, maybe find a job for him or whatever. But he wasn't necessarily sure that him coming back. I forget what his losing street was at the time, but I remember there was quite a few of them towards the end.

Well, he had seven fights in a row without a win. He had four losses in a row and then two losses in a row with a no contest, breaking it up in there with Nico Price.

Yeah. And then seven losses in a row. What's Tony Ferguson on? Is it eight now?

I believe it's either seven or eight.

Seven or eight. Tony said, I'm too old to retire, which sounds like a crazy statement, but I think I know what he means. I think he means this is just all I know. I'm too old to find something else. I'm too old to do something else and reinvent myself. And I disagree. What's the man? Let's just say he's 40 years old. He's somewhere around there. Even if he is 40, you still got half your life left to live. I think that's what people don't realize as fighters. Yeah, I'm still in the fight game. I'm still doing what I'm doing. But you can go off in many, many different directions. I Charles Oliveira said they need to give him a matchup that's friendly to him. I get that. I understand what Charles is saying there. What do you think?

Well, I mean, for the longest time, Ferguson was talking about CSO, right? So it's like, if you're talking about that and that's what you're coming to the matchmakers with, then what are they going to do- Champ shit only.

Yeah.

What are they going to do but put you against people who are in the title picture? If you're saying now, I can't retire because I'm too old, then you need to fight the other old guys. There's no two ways about it. It's no longer champ shit only. It's like, is Jim Miller available? Is Clay Guida available? Almost setting up a legends division around him at this point.

That's a good idea. If he is going to fight, and by the way, eight fight losing street, the man's a legend of the game. Simple as that. He was never the actual champ. I think he was an interim champ, though, right? For a little bit. He was the interim champion. He beat Kevin Lee to bits. What a fight that was. And that was always Tony's thing. He'd always just take so much damage and then just turn it around because he was tough as they came. Simple as that. But now he's on a seven fight losing street. Jim Miller, that's a good shout. Go back down to 155. Fight Jim freaking Miller, and then make that the last one for the love of God. Anyway, we've got Darren Elkins joining us in a bit, so we'll talk a little bit about the fight this weekend with him. Next week, we'll be in Abu Dhabi. Well, I will. Anyway, I'll be in Abu Dhabi. Max Holloway versus Ilyia Sephora and Hamza Shaimev going up against Whittaker, as we all know. You see the footage of him trading wrestling with the guy that won the gold medal in Paris in wrestling.

I mean, wrestling with him is maybe a bit of a credit to this Olympian. I would say dominating this guy. Yeah, Brian.

Yeah, let's have a So this is the Olympic gold medal.

Hamza in black there.

A bit of a scramble. He gets on top, gets the body lock here, drags him down. He's got top position. He's got wrist control Now he's got the headlock, drags him back, goes down for the gilly, doesn't get it. They roll through, and then they separate. Now, I don't follow Olympic wrestling, so I can't pretend I know this guy. What weight class was that guy from?

I'm not certain either. I'll look up his name right now.

Yeah, he looked like a similar size, though, regardless of the weight class. I mean, that just shows you what you're dealing with. Hamza Chimev, I say it all the time, he's the toughest first-round matchup for anybody. But can you weather that storm? Can you weather that storm? Can he make it to the fight healthy? Can he make weight? That's the big thing. Seventy-four kilos. Thanks, Brian. So that's about... Seventy-four. It's about 180 pounds. So it's almost 185. It's around about that. Jesus Christ. That is impressive. Then you combine the striking, then the submission threat that he has. And we saw him go to the Mount Agility now for a second. What's your early thoughts on that match I mean, look, if this matchup...

My thoughts are, I just want this matchup to happen. I just really want this fight to go down. And Hamza sharing that video, what are we, nine days out from the fight? It's like, that's the first thing that's given me real pause for being, okay, Hamza is serious. He's in the gym. He is healthy enough to be wrestling with an Olympic-level wrestler this far out from a fight. It seems like all systems are go. So I'm super excited for that. But as far as a winner goes, this is as coin-flippy as it gets because Hamza can't survive out of the first round. Robert Whitaker, if he gets caught, it's in that first round. So it's the ultimate clash of styles and outcomes here.

The big thing is that's always played Hamza is the discipline. From what I hear from certain people, it's like he wasn't the most disciplined with training. He's a bit of a maniac, and a lot of us are.

Snickers bars in the drawer while you're cutting weight?

Yeah, exactly. All that shit. But also just a bit of a hot head, a bit of a maniac, and emotionally unstable, which is certainly zero judgment there, because I've been guilty of that in the past as well. But that was always the thing. Is Hamza locked in? Is he dialed in? Is he Is he feeling the pressure? Is he doing what he needs to do? If he does do, and I've heard also from sources that he is, that this is like a new version of Hamza. And if it is, then Jesus Christ, the fight for Robert Whittaker just got even tougher because in the first round, He is ridiculous. Nobody picks up Kamara Usman and dominates him the way that he did. Look what he did to Gilbert Burns in the first round, and look what he does to everybody else in the first round, picking up Li Jingliang, having a conversation with Dana. It's It's unreal. It's unreal. But it's over five rounds. It's a five-round co-main event. Can he sustain that over five? Because he couldn't sustain it over three. So I think that's a big, big advantage for Robert Whittaker. That tips the balance.

If I'm looking at this fight and I'm leaning towards a potential winner early, then yeah, I'd lean towards Whittaker.

So I think you're seeing a new and improved Hamzat, that dedication, because after this last pull out with Whittaker, I think a lot of people started to sour on Hamzat a little bit for the first time. People made excuses, and they were still talking about a Hamzat smash through multiple times, missing weight, changing opponents. The fans rode with him for quite a while. This is the first time he's gotten that blowback where it's like, Oh, I might not just be on a cakewalk to a UFC title fight. I could see all of this going away. I think he's He's really locked in and dialed in for this Whitaker fight as a result of that.

See, that's a really good point, Harrington, because social media is a pain in the ass. It's great. It's fun. People always say, Oh, you're wasting your life away. It's like, No, I'm not. I'm just sitting on the couch. I'd be just sitting on the couch watching some bullshit on TV. I'd rather watch something online just for a second, just scroll Instagram. I'm sitting on the toilet. I'm taking a dump, okay? I've just learned all about the galaxies. I'm I learned some crazy shit on there. I don't know if it's all true, but not necessarily wasting your time. I've learned some good stuff. Lucas is always coming up to me and said, Dad, did you know? I'm like, Right, you need to get off TikTok. But when you start getting blowback from fans and you start getting shit, you can use that two ways. You can use it to motivate you and get off your ass, or you can get mad about it and angry about it, delete the app and talk shit to everybody. But it does resonate. It does have a place. So that's good. Good for Hamza. I hope he is motivated because we want to see the best fight possible.

And I think whoever wins that, other than Strickland, they're fine for the belt.

I don't see how you give Strickland the title shot over guys who are willing at the very top willing to fight each other. But it's not my call. It's Dana's.

Yeah, but didn't Dana already say Strickland's the guy? I'm talking about whoever wins between Drickies and Strickland, they'd be up next. But still, yeah. So Social media, obviously, you put this in the notes, Harrington, about Liam Payne. Liam Payne is not someone that I knew the name of. I know he was in One Direction. And again, I can't say I'm a One Direction guy. I'm not a One Direction fan, but you put it in the notes, and then my wife was talking to me about it as well. And Rebecca is not a One Direction fan, but they were massive in the UK. One of the guys died this week, Liam Payne.

Yeah, Liam Payne, He passed away yesterday. He fell from his balcony of his hotel room in Argentina, three floors into the courtyard. There was a 911 call, or I don't know whatever Argentina's version is of 911, but there was a call to the police made saying, This guy is causing havoc in the room. He's destroying the room. We believe he's intoxicated, and we're very concerned with the fact that his room has a balcony. So police, please rush down here. I mean, The hotel staff was on it, but apparently this guy just couldn't be reached. And that was that.

Well, it's really sad because I saw a video as well, and there's a deeper discussion to this, which we'll get to in a second. But I saw a video as well, which was apparently And then finally, on the day. It was three hours before he died, and he's in his hotel room in Argentina, and he's with his girlfriend, who's a very pretty girl. And it's all just the type of shit I put on an Instagram story, just having a bit of banter with Rebecca or whatever. And it It seemed all fun and games, and it seemed all lovely. And then a few hours later, the man's dead. And apparently in the room, there was drugs and what appeared to be cocaine and scrunched up pieces of foil, which I would assume is for smoking heroin. I don't know what else you use foil for. I don't know. I'm not an expert in that world, but there were certainly all kinds of drugs, paraphernalia all over the room, alcohol involved as well. And then this morning, as I'm having my coffee, I'm just scrolling social media and I start seeing, apparently, he was getting hounded on social media.

Apparently, there was something like 5,000 negative posts made towards him in the last week or so, something like that. So as I say, it relates to what we were talking about Hamza before. People go out there and you talk shit, you forget this is just a human being. In one minute, you're on top of the world. You're in one direction. Again, If you told me to name One Direction song or I'm going to blow your brains out, I'd be dead. Can you name a One Direction song?

I can name a Harry Style song. I can't name a One Direction song.

There you go. Harry Style was also in One Direction. I can't name Harry Style's either. But it all just started to get on top of him by the looks of it. I saw this article, and as I said, all these tweets, but it also said his networth, which was about 100 million or something crazy like that. But it's like, one minute, you're on top of the world, you're making ridiculous money, you're towing all over the place. Next minute, I don't know if it was washed up, but may potentially, next minute, you're washed up and people are just talking shit. And then the media are coming after you and writing all kinds of articles about you.

Well, I'm just picturing it like that is the downside of childhood stardom, right? This guy's what? 17, 18, 19 years old in one direction Direction takes off. I know they were like a Simon Cowell project where it was just different people who were on X Factor, and Simon Cowell was like, No, I think you five would all go real good together. Put them together. And it's like, before you know it, these guys were selling out stadiums. The tour that Taylor Swift is on right now, that's the path that One Direction was on. You couldn't go into the street as one of these guys without getting absolutely sworn by people. And to have that be a thing in your life and watch that slowly start to slip away and fade away. You're watching somebody who you looked at as a brother or a peer in Harry Style's, continue to have that level of success and Fame. And then instead, you're getting just railroaded by the internet making fun of you. I could see how that would mess with your psyche to a point where if you were on a significant amount of drugs that make you paranoid, a quick trip down a third-story floor seems like the only way out.

It's like that.

Is that all it was, three stories?

Three stories, it was the third floor.

So three stories doesn't sound too high.

I didn't think so either.

Three stories, what would that if we said each story, it could be 60 feet.

I think it's 10 feet. So it's a 30-foot drop, which is significant.

If you fall 30 feet and you land on your head. So you got to assume he jumped off the balcony in a crazy depression-induced, alcohol and drug-induced rage, just jumped off a fucking balcony. It's crazy because they said they were concerned about the balcony. When I was... Because I used to have these night terrors. I talked about it on Rogan. I used to do crazy shit. Remember Christmas Day? I told the story many times, ran out of the house naked and came to, and I'm on the neighbor's fence. When I was in Cancun, Mexico, that's when I was having these night terrors. And we were way higher than three stories. It was probably like the 24th floor. We were right up high. Beautiful view of the beach. Incredible. But I was terrified because these night terrors. I ran out the house naked on Christmas Day, came two on the neighbor's wall, covered in blood because I've stood my toes everywhere, had no idea. I thought, I better not run out of that balcony in the middle of the night, having a night terror. So I would lock the balcony every single night. You know what I mean?

Jesus Christ.

Dude, I did a bit of partying in Vegas recently, and I found the only rooftop in Vegas where you just have access to it your room. I'm like, this should not be a thing in any Vegas hotel room. People come here and lose way too much money they don't have for you to ever have access to a high open area.

Yeah, they do love a good balcony in some Vegas hotels, but you can't do that. You can't assume that everyone's going to be still there. People like a balcony. I love to sit on the balcony when I'm away, have coffee in the morning. It's beautiful, especially if you're in a nice place by the ocean, sit and have a coffee, listen to the lapping of the waves, and just sit there and have your coffee and like, Naga, Rebecca, come on, get ready. I love it because she takes ages to get ready. So I tell her to get ready because I'm going to sit here and have another coffee or two because you're going to be a while, yet you're going to be a long, long time. Anyway, all right, Peter, that guy. And before you go after people on social media and start talking shit and saying nasty stuff and writing articles about people, just think about the effect it's having on these people because they're individuals at the end of the day, and we don't know the full story. And maybe it was, maybe there's more to it. Maybe he had depression. But when you're...

Because I saw this one... Let me just see it here. It's a crazy number. Here it is here. There was a significant up In the two weeks until midday on Wednesday, there were 42,500 negative posts mentioning the star, which is close to 900,000 engagements and a potential reach of 2.2 2.2 billion people. That's insane. Imagine that feeling.

You got 2.2 billion people just seeing that you stink. But here's my question for you. If you had that money, if your networth was $200 million, I'm sure it's only half that. Who am I?

Oh, yeah, it's close. It's close. 75.

If your networth was $200 million, would you even have Instagram?

See, this is the problem, though, because it's whilst you get all the negative bullshit, you also get the positive stuff as well. You know what I mean? And you go online and you Google. I don't Google my own name, but certain people would. You Google your own name or you go to your Twitter account and people say nice things, and that's great. And the weird thing is you could have 50 positive comments, and the one negative comment is the one that gets all your You're not going to change it. You ignore all the others. And that's just a weird thing about the human psyche. And that's why you're just going to fuck it all off. I'm trying to stay off it. I do it for a little bit of entertainment. When I'm sitting in on a board, I go on the For You on Twitter, and there's some Mad shit. The craziest shit. But yeah, try and avoid it.

I don't know, man. If I had $200 million, that's it. I'm canceling all my accounts. It's like that feeling of adoration you get from people making a nice Instagram post about you. I would get that every morning from checking my bank balance, and I just wouldn't deal with it, dude. I check out completely from social media.

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Yes, so they were at the same venue. I'm not sure exactly what it was, but there was some event where they ended up a dang near Crossing Paths, according to Poirier and Connor. So Connor Connor was there, a fan films him as he's walking by, and he says, Oh, did you see Dustin? Dustin just walked by, and you can see the look of like, Oh, no, in Connor's face. And he goes, All right, yeah, Dustin, blah, blah, blah.

Let's have a look.

Watch his I'm not going to get somewhere to go. You see how Dustin went the other way? You see how Dustin walked the other way?

He's right behind me.

He walked on this side right there.

He's right there. Yeah, I wouldn't say that's a look of, Oh, my God, I'm terrified. It was just a look of interest that he's there. But I saw you put in the notes that Dustin Poirier said that him and Connor, and this is hilarious, are like Peter Griffin and the chicken on family guy.

Yeah, he said- That any time they see each other, it's just going on. That's what he said. He said it would have been right then and there. He's like, Connor's lucky I didn't see him. Apparently, Poirier had just walked past when Connor came in from the other direction, so they were going in opposite direction. But Poirier said, If I'd have seen him, it would have been right then and there. For life, he's talked There's too much crap about me. If I ever see him, it's going to be like when Peter sees the chicken in Family Guy, we're just going to start scrapping right then and there.

Do you really believe that? Because Dustin Poirier- I do.as good as a fighter that he is as much of a mean son of a bitch, and he is, I'm telling you, he's a fighter to the absolute T. Under the definition of fighter, there's Dustin Poey. That man's legit as they I'm a huge fan, but he's always carried himself with class. I don't know if Dustin Poey truly would be the type of guy to see Connor on the streets and just go for it.

Well, but you remember when he was doing a parade through Louisiana or something like that, and some fan came up with a sign that was like, Jolene gave me her number, and he got into it with that fan, right?

Yeah, he slapped the sign, I think.

Right. But it's like if you're the guy who did that to Dustin Poirier, right? Where whenever Dustin Poirier goes now, some asshole fan thinks it's a funny thing to be like, your wife is in my DMs. And it's like you crossed the line that made it very inappropriate and very uncomfortable for your wife to be out in public with you. I think that's the one guy who you would say, street justice, dude. You really made it uncomfortable for my family that you crossed the line, and we're never going to fight in the cage again. So I can beat you up here in some random arena.

Yeah. You know what? Because I did forget about the stuff, your wife's in my DMs and all that type of stuff and clackety-clack and all this, he was going to send people to the house and have him murdered and shit. I get it. I just think, I don't know, maybe my estimation of Dustin He means control is a little bit overestimated. He seems like a guy that's in control of his emotions. That's what I mean, that even though he would love to, even though he would love to get his hands on him, I just don't know if he would. But maybe I'm completely wrong because I understand your point. And maybe because I'm looking at it as a 45-year-old per se these days, right? But I don't know. I just don't know. He's such a public figure, Conor McGregor. I mean, but fuck it. That's going to make a It's what I happen, isn't it?

I mean, it would lead everything. It would lead everything from the New York Times to TMZ. Everybody would pick up on this. You're probably right. You're probably right. Dustin Poore is while he While he could be pissed off, this is still like, he's a family man, he's a business owner, he's a respectful guy. Chances are he wouldn't. But there is that little piece in my mind that's like, Man, you went too far, and I can't let that go.

Yeah, and he did go a bit too far there. But anyway, still. All right, so anything else, Hamilton?

Yeah, we got- Before the damage joins us. Yeah, we were talking about Conor McGregor, so I think it makes sense to stick with him. Him and Ilia got into a bit of a heated exchange this morning on Twitter, a little back and forth.

Now, hold on a minute. A heated exchange, that's a bit of a stretch here. Now, look, listen, they did go back and forth. Here, look, here's what Ilia said. He said, Everything looks better than me. I'm more handsome, I'm richer, and I'm a better fighter than you. And Connor says, 'Arton, low above retard. Teporia says, Totally agree. Your best friend, Arton, tell me who you were with, and I'll tell you who you are. You're another retard. And then McGregor goes, 'Oh, boy, retard. And then Teporia says, Exactly. You finally stood what you are. Watch me fight October 26? ' Listen, Teporia is the man. He's incredible. But that right there was like you at school. It's going, You are what you say you are. Do you know what I mean? Don't tell me that that's heated. Don't tell me That's the absolute peak of trash talk. That was pretty elementary, if you ask me.

Okay, well, peak is a bit of a stretch. You weren't involved. Chael wasn't involved. But I mean, as far as what we have right now, that was pretty solid. I respect Ilia going back and He's now got the Conor McGregor's attention. There's three or four tweets. He knows people are going to pick it up. Put in the plug for your fight date. That's a good salesman right there.

No, it was. It was smart to finish it off with the October 26th, watch me fight. I can't wait for that one because that fight is going to be ridiculous. But saying that he's richer, he's richer than Conor McGregor. He's insane. Come on. Speaking of insane, how much to get the hell out of here. Throw me to the other side, please, Brian. Speaking of insane, we are now joined by the Insane Metality. The one and only, Darren, the damage. Elkins, what's up, brother?

What's up, brother? My mind's just chilling.

Yeah, man. Listen, you're looking good right now, but this is why I had to speak to you. I had to speak to you because you've had How much a career, man. It's been unbelievable. It's truly inspirational. You're still getting better and better. Your skills are on display every time. And the heart that you show in every single fight and the damage that you sustain in some of those fights. We got to talk about that.

Yeah, I mean, I'm thriving in chaos, obviously. But the one I've been sticking around, I guess I'm 40 years old, but like you said, I'm getting better and better, man. I feel better every fight. I'm still having fun. I still have a lot of motivation to keep doing this. So until that's gone, I'm going to stick around for a little bit longer.

39 professional fights, 28 wins, 11 losses. How many years in the UFC, Darren? I'm just scrolling down here. Let's Seville. We're going back a long way. 2010, 14 years. How's it been for you?

It's been fun, man. Ups and down. You know how this game is, the highest of the highs, lowest of the lows. Sometimes you're on that top, sometimes you're on the bottom. But I just love to compete. It's a big thing for me. I like to compete. I like to go out there and I like to train and just put my technique on display and put my heart on display. So it's been a fun ride. I never thought I'd be here still at 40 years old, but I'm glad I am.

Yeah, and I'm glad you are as well. You got a big fight this weekend against Daniel Panade, and we'll talk about that in a little bit. But as I say, the heart that you show in every fight, it's worth mentioning. It really is. I mean, yeah, you got fantastic jiu-jitsu and wrestling and good striking as well, but it's the heart that always stands out. Where did that come from? Have you always been like that, Darren?

Yeah, I've always been like that ever since wrestling and stuff like that. I think that comes from my childhood. I've always had a rougher start growing up. I was always behind the eight ball, and people always doubted me. They never believed I could do a lot of things in my life. And my thing is always proving them wrong. They tell me I can't do something. I'm going to prove them wrong. And in fighting, I'm the underdog. I'm probably an underdog. I think I'm an underdog in this fight. I'm an underdog in almost every fight. And my willingness I'm going to prove them wrong. Please put me as an underdog because I'm going to prove you wrong and I'm going to keep coming. I'm going to keep coming. And I've had the most wins as an underdog.

Yeah, well, I was always the underdog as well. So ignore that shit. Where did you grow up, Darren?

Up Portage, Indiana.

Okay. And what was that like?

It was good. We're right by Chicago, wrestling was pretty much my life. I started wrestling when I was five. I I had an older brother, he wrestled, too, and pretty much just wrestled and beat up each other all our lives.

It sounds like every brother that has a brother, every guy that has a brother, it's the same old thing, just fighting and wrestling and beating the We get out of each other.

We used to have a wrestling mat in our basement, and we watched the old UFC, and then we'd go down there and try the submissions and all that stuff. So, yeah, it was like a... He was a couple of years older than me, so he beat me up a bit.

Yeah, that's always the best way to start a fight career, the wrestling, of course, as well. Now you're going up against Daniel Paneda this weekend. Tell me about Paneda and how you're feeling ahead of this one.

I like the fight. Obviously, he's a wild man, too. Obviously, So they put this fight together because it's going to be a great fight. He doesn't quit. He's durable. He keeps coming. He's zombie-like like me. If he gets hit, he just keeps on coming. How aggressive. But I I like this fight. I feel great for this fight. I feel like it's going to be stand up. It's going to be wrestling. It's going to be jiu-jitsu. So when the chaos happens, that's usually when I do my best. And there's going to be a lot of chaos in this fight. It happens every fight of mine.

Every time, every single time. And that's why I wanted to speak to you today. Forty years old, do you think about potentially when the retirement time is going to come?

I I keep saying I always thought I'd be tired by 40, but I've had a couple of injuries, so I didn't get as many fights as I want. So I was like, I'm going to stick around for a little while. And then the other thing is because I've had the injuries, I let my body recover. I've had longer time for camps. I feel like I'm getting better still. So I'm still getting better. I feel great. I don't fight as often, which I'm okay with, but I don't think I'm going to stick around for a little bit longer, but I'm taking a fight by fight. I'm four years old. I can retire tomorrow. I can keep on going. I think I'm going to keep on going for a while. And when I feel like enough's enough, enough's enough.

Where do you live now?

I live in Sacramento.

Of course, because you're trading with Team AlphaMail, so you lived there.

Yes, I lived there. I've moved my whole family out there. It's been about eight years now we've been living out there.

What do you make of Sacramento? Because my son did a little training at Sacramento.

Yeah, I've seen him.

Oh, you saw him?

Yeah, I saw him there. When he was doing- Nice. During the COVID, he was training there at Team AlphaMail. I've seen him. Like, yeah, he's a bizbing son. I guess this being something. I go, okay. I didn't even know he wrestled, but yeah.

You should have given him a little slap.

I It does for me to do this.

Yeah, exactly. What's it like training up there with you, Ryan Fabor? Obviously, a guy that's been around forever, a legend of the game, and just an awesome human being. But talk to me about the impact that Team Alpha male, all the coaches Can you write a favor about on your career?

Yeah, it's been such a good vibe, man. I mean, that's part of it. It's a place where you can train all day long if you wanted to. You can get new privates, you can do classes. I tons of positive energy, which I love. We're all there to help each other. Faver is Mr. Positive over there. He's going to do whatever he can to help you. He's always willing to help you. And I So right away, I fell in love with him. Again, this is where I need to be. And I feel like with Team Alpha Mel, unlike some of the other teams, is they don't try to change what your style is. They just try to add to your style. A lot of other gems, they change their style to their style. Which isn't always the greatest thing. I'm a grappler, I'm a jiu-jitsu guy. I brawl a little bit. I work on my striking and stuff like that, but they didn't say, Okay, you should be a striker. I was like, No, no, we're adding to your game.

Is Faber still on the mat?

Oh, yeah. He's doing jiu-jitsu and stuff. He's doing jiu-jitsu competition now.

Son of a bitch. I'm jealous. My next is destroyed. I can't do jack shit at the moment. I'm going to get another neck surgery. Obviously, you're a featherweight. Just quickly give me a prediction for this weekend. How do you expect this one to go down?

I think it's going to be a great fight, a fun fight to watch. I think I'm going to catch him late in around, maybe a rear naked choke or submission when he starts wearing down.

Nice. Featherweight title on the line next weekend, Toporia, Max Holloway. What do you think about that, Darren? Who do you think wins?

I like Max, obviously. Max is a fan favorite. I'm a big fan of Max. I've had conversations with Max, so I'm always pulling for Max, but man, Teporea looks so good lately. I know. It's going to It's going to be a true task. Max is going to have to hold up, and he's going to have to keep him at distance.

Two of the best featherweights we've ever seen, man. It's going to be phenomenal.

Yeah, I'm pulling for Max. I'm sticking with Max, but I wouldn't be surprised either way.

Now, when I said to Mike Harrington, that's our producer, jump on Mike. When I said to Harrington, I said, Oh, we're going to get Darren Elkins on. He said, Oh, my God. He's one of my favorite fighters, and I'm not exaggerated. I'm not being silly. He was like, Shit, that would be incredible. Harrington, have you got any questions for Darren, the damaged Elkins?

No, I just wanted to let you know you gained a fan for life in that Merced Bekhtik fight, right? Talk about you getting absolutely... He's given you everything he's got over the course of 12 minutes, the guy's being talked about as like, it's only a matter of time before this guy fights for a featherway title. And then boom, one Darren Elkins head kick, and nobody's talking about his title hopes anymore.

Yeah, I learned a lot about myself and how I think my side did, too. But I'm always in it until I'm not in it. My cardio, my toughness. If you fade a little bit, I can keep coming.

Do you credit wrestling with the toughness, the mental toughness, the unbreakable will?

Definitely, wrestling has taught me how to hone it, right? I mean, you go through those crazy practices, the hard endurance training. And I feel like I'm definitely going to credit But I think a lot of it has to do with my life. I was telling you how I'm the underdog and that little voice in my head, Tommy, do more, do more. You can do more. Don't stop.

I was always the underdog, as we said. That fueled me. It also gave me a chip on my shoulder. It pissed me off. But if you harness that and you use it the right way, that could be the best motivation ever.

I agree. Same. I do the same. I agree with you, Mike.

So what does Darren Elkins do when he's not kicking ass in the octagon? What do you get him to?

Well, I'm doing a lot right now with my son. He's doing the whole... He just, about a year and a half ago, decided now he wants to do a MMA, and he wants to do fit, too, and he wants to wrestle. And so I'm spending a lot of time with him, and he's doing cross country, and my daughter is doing cross country. So I'm mostly with my family when I'm not training, when I'm not doing this type of stuff. I'm with my family, with my wife. We're doing a lot of family stuff. And for My son, he's 14 now. It's been a cool journey. We could talk to Jitsu on the way there. And I've been saying for a long time that once I'm done, I want to step away from MMA. I've been doing it for 35 years. I don't think I wanted to be around MMA anymore unless my kids got into MMA. Well, he's in MMA, so it looks like I'll be sticking around probably coaching.

There you go. There you go. Never goes away. Harrington, you got a final question for Darren?

Well, yeah. I'm just looking Going through your record here, there's a who's who of guys. You got Jeremy Stevens, Alexander Volkanovski, Chad Mendez, Charles Olavera, Cub Swanson. We're talking about the elite to ever do it at 145. Is there one fight that stands out to you where it's like, Oh, yeah, that was a war I still look back on and it gives me chills?

That was a great question, by the way, Harrington.

That is a good question. They're all freaking crazy fight. They all blend together. I was on that six-fight winning streak, and I was making my way towards the top, and Volkina Laisky put it on me, hit me with some good shots, rocked me really bad in the first. So that one was a brutal one. I remember, I really haven't had many... I'm not going to say I haven't had a ton of concussions in my life. I haven't had too many fights where I'm like, Man, my head really hurts. I've been where I've been rocked and dropped and stuff, but I haven't been where my head's been like, Man, it's throbbing. But in that fight, my head hurt afterwards for a while.

Did you know coming out of that fight, Oh, this guy is the next champion at 145?

I knew it could be. Like I said, I was on top. I was at the top of my game, and I thought I was going to make my way. I thought I was going to walk through him, and he put it on me, son. So I knew he We had definitely a good chance.

Are you married, Darren? Yeah, I've been married. She's your wife. Yeah. Talk to me about this because you are the damage. It is the perfect nickname. You do show so much heart every single bloody time, and you You're a bloody mess at the end of most of your fights, and that's why people love you. But what about your wife? She must be like, Oh, my God, Darren, please, for the love of God, how long are you going to do this for? Because women, they don't want to see you get hurt. They're always very nervous for you, obviously, because they care about you. What does your wife say every time you're going into a fight?

It's funny because like I said, I've been with my wife since high school. She's been around since the wrestling days, so she knows how I am. She knows how I've always been. When we were younger, she loved it. She went to all the fights, she watched all the fights.. She traveled the world with me. But now that I'm older and we have the kids are older, now she can't even watch. She closed her eyes. She's hiding She can't watch the fights anymore. She encouraged me if I want to keep doing it, to keep doing it, but she won't watch anymore. It's hard for her to even come to some of these events, which I understand. I mean, it's a tough sport. Like you said, I'm different than most, but she knows how I am. This is really what makes me happy. This is really what makes me wake up every day excited, still doing what I want to do.

Well, that sounds like you got a beautiful woman there because that's how they're supposed to. That shows that they care. There's some wives out there that don't really give a shit. I've seen it. I'm not going to mention names. And I've seen fighters getting knocked out and the wife's not caring, taking selfies and stuff and posing. And I was just absolutely disgusted. That's what a woman that cares about you is supposed to think like. So you got a good one there. Darren, all the best this weekend, my man. All the best. I'm a big fan. I love watching you compete, and I look forward to this weekend.

I appreciate it. Thanks, guys.

My man, take care. All the best.

Take care.

I mean, the damage. He's a nice guy. He's a psycho inside the octagon in a good way.

Yeah, I didn't get to ask it, but there was a fan question, does he think he's bled the most of anyone in the UFC? And I think the answer just has to be yes, right? Nobody loses more pints of blood. He said he didn't take a lot of head damage, and it's like, okay, but you made up for it in pints of blood lost in the cage.

One 100 %. Yeah. I mean, I'm just trying to think now, who were the biggest bleeders in MMA? I mean, that is an ominous title to have. I bled the most in that octagon. I bleed for this, okay? Literally. Sometimes when the UFC finishes, you go in the canvas and now at the apex, all the fans go in there and get pictures and yada, yada, yada. I used to do little post instant reaction videos in the octagon. You can't do that anymore. And you forget. You see all the blood on a bloody night, the amount of blood just all over the canvas. But who springs to mind that's some of the bloodiest.

To me, it's either Darren or Nate, just because they always get busted. Darren Elkins or Nate Dias because he has all the scar tissue. He always gets opened up.

Tony Ferguson, there's been a few bloody ones there. I've had a few bloody ones. I was always a bloody mess when I came out of there. Jesus Christ. Anyway, fair play to Darren Elkins. Good luck this weekend. All right, well, speaking of Darren Elkins and talking about this weekend, Anthony Hernandez, Fluffy Girls Up Against Michelle Pereira. I did the contender last week. I was at the PI, having a little workout, and I saw Michelle Pereira walk past. He is an absolute freak of a specimen. I am telling you, he had his top off. He was dripping in sweat. I mean, he's absolutely ripped to God knows what. And he's big. He is a big guy. It's 185. He used to find it well to wait, I think, for a little bit. He's done the right thing coming up because he looks absolutely gigantic going up against Anthony Hernandez. Anthony Hernandez, you got to love this guy. Never the fastest, never the strongest, never the quickest, never any of that stuff, the most explosive. But oh, my God, underestimate him at your will. Roman Kupilov, Edmund Shabbatian, Marc-Andre Barriot, Josh Fren, Rodolfo Vieira. I mean, that is- Submitted him.

One of the best jiu-jitsu guys to ever come over to the UFC like modern times, in the modern era, shall we say, he submitted it. Unbelievable. How do you see this fight going down?

Yeah, this is absolutely excellent matchmaking. Look, I think it's going to be a very fun fight. My issue with Pereira, as Same as everybody, it's been the conditioning. He can do capoeira. He can dance in the cage and throw these insane kicks from out of nowhere. But does he have the gas to go 25 minutes with somebody like Anthony Hernandez, who I know is going to be there for all 25 minutes. You let him stay in that fight, he will be in your face in the 23rd minute trying to find a finish.

Pereira is a freak, and I mean, like freely, athlet. You know what I'm saying? I mean, he stands there and does backflips mid-fight. Oh, yeah. While someone's led on their back to try and pass their guard. He turns around and does a goddamn backflip. Then sometimes, he starts getting tired. You know what I mean? That's what I've said a few times on the commentary. He does the capoeira, he does the walkouts, he does the backflips, uses all of his goddamn energy, and then gets tired. And to your point, with this being five rounds and with Anthony Hernandez being just one of the toughest guys, an unbreakable will, really good defense, good chin, massive win streak as well, I lean towards Hernandez. I just think over five rounds, he's going to wear him down. Problem is, Pereira is so explosive. He is so powerful. I mean, his last two wins, I think they were in the first round. Iho Pateri got a guillotine joke, knocked out... No, Michal Alashashuk, that was a rear naked choke as well, knocked out Andre Petrowski. That's the one I was thinking about, just drilled him with a massive shot. The man is technical, he's good, he's big, he's gigantic, he's dangerous, but he's not economical with his energy, to coin a phrase from Conor McGregor, when he lost a name.

Dias and Anthony Hernandez just doesn't go away. So if you ask me who wins, I think we see a submission, round 4, round 5 for the fluffy one.

I I love it. That's an incredible call, and that's something that will certainly pay out quite well if you are correct.

Why is he the underdog?

He is a slight underdog, I believe. And then also picking submission in the later rounds is always like lottery number, level odd. So I think I might just throw a cheeky one on there, Mr. Bisping. What about you?

What's your pick?

Listen, I think Pereira is the guy who he does damage with his hands, but then he tends to go to the grappling, right? If you're trying to remember, I know the Ola Jadzic, where you're talking about the Pateria fight, Zalim Imadev. That was another one where he goes for the grappling. I think he's going to make a mistake. Instincts are going to take over. He's going to, for whatever reason, try to grapple with Fluffy. I just think any time I've seen anyone try to do that, from the most elite-level jiu-jitsu guys to literally anyone who locks it up with him in the UFC, Hernandez tends to get a finish once it goes into grappling. I think it's going to be of a mental lapse where Instink takes over. He's dominating with the striking, but it gets into a grappling affair, and Hernandez gets a reversal in the finish.

Yeah, so we're aligned there. Also, Rob Fontz on this weekend against Kyla Phillips. That should be a good one. We got Darren the damage, taking on Daniel Paneda, Brad Catona versus Jean Matzumoto. That's a good one. Jean Matzumoto, he was on the Contender series. I'm telling you, he is ridiculously talented. He is so So good. So keep an eye on that one, Brad Cattona. We know he's been around for a little bit, was on the ultimate fire again recently. Very technical, another SBG product, but Jean Matzumoto, I think he's got a very, very big future. Anyway, all the best to everyone competing this weekend. If you got a question, send it in, bympod@gmail. Com. Do me a favor if you're watching this. It takes no effort to just click subscribe. It takes no effort to just click like. So what are you doing? Help a brother out. Click the link, click the like, and get your shit together and send Send the question in to bympod@gmail. Com. Brian.

I'm impressed with the-Do we have any questions?

I'm impressed with the hot potatoes that people sent in today.

I think we're going to skip putting them on air.

The Hot potatoes? Yes. All right. I got to see it. I know. I got to see it, Brian.

I got to see it.

I'll show you after. You're going to get in trouble. You're saying it's not fit for her? Yes, sir. In what way?

They're going to ask for opinions of yours that may or may not get you into a lot of trouble.

I don't mind giving opinions. I'm very opinionated, but I think I know what you're talking about there, Brian, so we will swerve that one. Big thanks to Eddie Hall. Big thanks to Darren Elkins. Big thanks to Mike Harrington as well. No abuse today for you.

Big thanks to you for that, Mr. Bisping. Shut up, Harrington.

Yeah, a big thanks to Brian. Okay, of course. Thanks, guys. Appreciate the support on the show. We'll be back on Monday Take care.