Following UFC San Antonio, tune in to the Post-Fight Press Conference to hear the athletes take questions from the media.
a land where they all won fifty thousand dollars congratulations to them the attendance tonight was sixteen thousand seventy six it was sold out and the gate was 2.15 million what’s up buddy how you doing I’m good how are you I’m good I guess the first thing is a split decision yeah surprised I was literally coming out of the bathroom and I was like what the 1 00:00:22,920 –> 00:00:26,460 yeah yeah were you surprised I mean I think everybody was surprised yeah probably could have been 5-0 I mean it could have been 4-0 but um yeah split wow yeah that’s that’s pretty scary with that said what did you make of the Corey’s performance yeah he looked incredible he looked incredible he shot him down he uh incredible footwork lateral movement you know uh takedowns I mean he had it all do you think Vegeta his problem is sometimes he just doesn’t have enough output you know sometimes 100 yeah Cheeto Cheeto to me looked really slow in the cruise fight right up until he caught him and knocked him out um so I was kind of waiting for that you know last two rounds and even his Corner said to him you got two rounds to finish this guy you need to finish this fight so um yeah and I said for Corey I mean he did your job for you he made a call out he wants to fight marab you know marab and aljo’s relationship being what it is does that why that makes sense I know we don’t make fights tonight but yeah yeah exactly you answered your own question thank you and what about Holly Holm would you make of her before yeah I thought she looked incredible tonight um you know uh I thought it was a weird Santos was like charging her and getting into the clinch with her and then Holly would just take her down and get on top of her and do whatever she wanted and she kept doing the same thing every time they stood up on their feet she just signed a new contract with the UFC I think it’s six fights she said on media day do you see that she has another title run in her do you think she can make it back to the top and potentially five I mean she’s been at the top the whole time she’s been here so to think she I mean look look how she goes she looked tonight every time you think Holly’s starting to get too old she comes in and puts on a performance like she did tonight she looked good I thought um I thought Santos had a horrible game plan you know as far as I was concerned I’m no coach but uh but Holly did what she needed to do and completely dominate her okay that’s Corey and marab technically he did make Colby Covington Leon Edwards on that night of the fight he did make Kobe Covington versus Leon he did that nice I did that is true but that was a no-brainer I mean Colby is if Usman doesn’t exist Colby’s been the champ now for a while uh and he’s been there forever he cut the weight he showed up to to fill in for that fight and a million other reasons why he deserves that fight would you have done him versus Usman if Esmond had won we have done him for probably yeah yeah probably I don’t know he didn’t win so I’m not in that position Dana um we saw that Don Cerrone was surprised that you know he’s now going to be a UFC Hall of Famer can you talk about what he means for the company and and now that he’s getting uh that spot in the UFC Hall of Fame yeah we love Cowboy you know he’s been uh you know when you look at what he meant to the WC and then came over here and what he’s meant to the to the UFC and what he’s meant to the sport as a whole and he’s a great human being too so it’s a it’s a win-win-win for everybody yeah he was completely surprised how difficult is it to like maintain all that away from him yeah we uh we flew his family and he didn’t know his family was here either and then we tried to get his grandmother in here too but uh you know she’s just health-wise it didn’t work for her but she wanted to come she tried everything she could to try to make it happen we’re gonna even gonna fly a EMT with her uh to come with her on the trip but we couldn’t get it done but yeah we love the guy and we’re happy for him and what’d you think of Macy Barber’s performance now 4-0 in the flywood division yeah I mean she she came into fights and that was a tough fight another close one and uh close on the cards too um but yeah Macy pulled out the win tonight so she says she wants to get a rematch with Alexa Grosso um whether she has the belt or not so I’m just wondering is there an update on what’s going to happen with grosso’s next title defense or first title defense actually is it going to be an immediate rematch with yeah no we don’t know yet yeah we don’t have that done yet and obviously uh speaking of grass so there’s also two other champions from Mexico um it just seems like it’s a no-brainer right to have a UFC event in Mexico this year is that in the works is there is there any plans for that um well we would obviously love to get back to Mexico and and do that but I don’t know if it’s in the plans right now we’re building the pi down there right now and uh wait to get wait do you guys see that I can’t wait to share that with you actually uh the um you know the renderings for for the ufcpi in Mexico is it’s gonna be badass but we’re not we’re not looking at a you know you’re right you’re not wrong we got three Mexican Champions finally we probably should be heading to Mexico or at least doing a Cinco de Mayo but that didn’t work out either so um there’s always September yeah you’re right we’ll see and why has Mexico been such a big Target for you because I mean you’ve said it in the past right like this is something that you’ve been wanting to do and finally like three Champions and it seems we have a nice crop of Mexican Talent some of the baddest human beings to ever walk the face of the Earth have come out of Mexico and uh me being a huge boxing fan growing up too you know Mexico has always been an important Market to me and it took longer than I expected it to but you know it didn’t it didn’t I guess I I I’m impatient and expect things a lot quicker than they happen but um you know the UK and and Mexico were both very important to me sticking with the Mexican theme um there were some reports that there’s talks of essentially that title unification about at 145 pounds between volcanovski and jayr for international fight week any update on that is is that the no if there was I would have announced it already um but we’re still working on that stuff I’ll have something soon we were actually going to make a couple announcements this week but it didn’t work out this week but um it’s coming it’s coming guys and lastly Daniel uh Pineda a veteran of the sport picked up a nice submission win uh he fought out his contract um he says he would like to stay with the UFC but unsure of his future um what’s what’s next for him 100 finishing Rey has finished all his fights um what’d you make of his performance and and is that someone that the company would be did you say yeah yeah I mean obviously he won he won a performance bonus tonight so um yeah we like that thank you thank you Dana over here uh you know you had guys everyone here from what that fought basically was from Texas or some sort uh you have you know Alexander Hernandez is from San Antonio CJ’s also from San Antonio even a guy like Zach Borrego fought on Fury FC last night he’s from San Antonio what do you think about the Texas MMA scene overall yeah it’s it’s it’s it’s looking good it’s looking good I met a girl at the gym this morning too who won the bantamweight Championship I guess last night at Fury two um so she was talking to me about the contender Series so um yeah listen Texas has been very good to us meaning the UFC uh since day one we love coming down here we love putting on fights here we’d love the crowd here um I love every city here every city is unique and fun and different and uh yeah yeah it’s it’s all good man and I also want to know so March’s women’s History Month obviously Holly Holm is a history maker we all know this can you talk talk a little bit about what she means uh to you as a you know promoter someone that’s been here and followed her career for forever well what’s incredible about Holly Holm is is what does she mean to Combat Sports period I mean uh Boxing Hall of Fame um you know uh she’ll end up UFC Hall of Fame uh she did kickboxing too I mean she’s she’s a very unique incredible human being let alone woman so um yeah she’s somebody that we will absolutely positively celebrate you know all of her achievements in all the Combat Sports uh she’s incredible and and one of the nicest human beings you’ll ever meet and my last one for you last time you were here Leon Edwards is in the main event obviously he’s the welterweight champion now you have a guy like Corey sandhagen who just wins and looks like he’s right on the cusp of that as well do you think that’s something that could be in Corey’s future as well yeah like we were just talking it’s uh there’s no doubt about it I mean he looked really good tonight and and obviously he beat the number three guy in the world who uh you know he absolutely just I mean that wasn’t a split decision who whoever scored that that fight a split decision is I don’t even know I’m not even going to go there but um yeah he absolutely dominated tonight and put himself in a really good position thank you thank you Dana over here uh Daniel Cormier said that Bilal Muhammad is the most warranted for a Welterweight Title shot um I just wanted to know what your thoughts on that was and uh why the law is not getting the next tile shot well Daniel Cormier doesn’t make those decisions uh it’s nice of them but uh yeah uh balal uh we have plans for below Bilal is going to fight again soon and then we’ll find out who’s next in line awesome and CJ Vergara had an incredible performance the San Antonio kid uh what do you think of his performance and the pop that he got from the crowd of his incredible comeback win yeah that fight was awesome um both guys I mean it was an absolute war and for the second round to be the complete opposite of the first round I mean as fight fans all of us not just promoters media and whatever we are in this room when you see those kind of fights man it’s just that’s that’s what the Sport’s all about so it doesn’t get any better than that awesome and I had a question out of left field uh you know is a BMF Champion but will there ever be a women’s BMF Champion I don’t know I don’t know you know we were getting ready for the promotion for that fight and uh I came up with the BMF belt I literally I told you guys about matchmaking how matchmaking works at our office was through there’s uh you know there’s four of us involved in it it’s me Sean Mick and Hunter and we get in there and we argue and we go back and forth and we do this and that and I thought they were gonna flame me when I came up with the BMF idea and they actually everybody liked it so we did it the thing might be a one and done but you know it was fun for that fight and it made sense for those two guys but I don’t know I mean we’ve kind of kicked it around I mean we’ve talked about it before well I don’t know awesome thank you thank you hey Dana right here um I don’t know if you had seen it yet but last night there was a pretty big refereeing blunder uh I saw it on social media this morning yeah I just wanted to get your thoughts on that because they’re I mean the refereeing done by Jason Herzog tonight in the in the vergera fight was great right that fight kept going um but I wanted to get your thoughts on what happened last night yeah obviously I wasn’t there to see it but I saw it on social and uh yeah that’s the kind of stuff that I really really don’t like I mean if a guy gets choked unconscious and you don’t know he’s choked unconscious everybody has a bad night everybody makes mistakes but if it guy gets choked unconscious and then they pull him into an arm bar and I mean I it doesn’t get any worse than that it’s the one that I went after massagati so bad about when uh when uh Josh Bergman choked out uh it’s a kid’s name uh the wrestler choked him unconscious and and masagati had no idea he was unconscious finally Bergman dropped him and let him Fitch he choked Fitch unconscious and and masgotti had no clue that he was out I mean when you shouldn’t be roughing if that happens my opinion and then uh I wanted to know your thoughts on uh Nate the train Nate land where because he showed up tonight in a nice blue suit and obviously he got in the mic he was flexing his biceps seems to be I mean no pun intended the Nate the chain seems to be getting some steam going behind him right now now the guy’s a Savage I mean every time we do if you don’t know if he’s on the card he ends up on if you don’t know uh you should know by now and uh tonight you know he looked incredible the guy’s an absolute Savage just keeps moving forward tries to take your head off and obviously tonight I mean he was mashed up against a very tough nasty dude and you look good yeah he’s fun to watch man awesome thanks Dana yep Dana just one question um bantamweight division obviously sanhagen won tonight but with sahuto coming back and talk about the matchmaking with that division in general yeah I mean that that division’s on fire it’s fun and like you just said with with sahudo coming back um it makes me more fun so we got a lot of good fights that we can we can make in that division it’s exciting thank you Dana you were talking about how good Corey’s and Hagen fight was tonight and you said that you’re so Cheeto very slow what else do you think happened to Cheeto tonight well I I think that Cheeto generally is a slow starter he he looked slow in the cruise fight right up until he knocked him out um and tonight he just could never pull the trigger with with uh San Hagen plus I I mean not to take anything away from from Cheeto sandhagen looked incredible I mean his footwork is unbelievable the way he switches up the way he mixed in his wrestling tonight and the takedowns um his lateral movement is as good as lateral movement gets I mean the guy literally fought the perfect fight tonight against Cheeto so without making it sound oh Cheeto slower this or that but I thought chido looked slow and the cruise fight right up until he knocked crews out so tonight I was kind of waiting we we have group text me and the matchmakers and we’re all talking about it tonight and I was like I don’t know let’s let’s wait before we start judging until the end because she Dover can can pull off anything and he never he never really got there he started to turn it on like the last 15 seconds but that was a little too late he should have started fighting that way in the fourth yeah Dana just uh one more over here um I don’t know if you saw but Leon Edwards has expressed that he he wouldn’t like to fight Colby he just doesn’t think he deserves the the fight um I don’t know if curious what you make of those comments and is there any possibility that um it may not be Colby next I mean there are some big welterweight fights coming up especially with the masvida and burns why would Colby not deserve the fight can somebody explain that to me well he a lot of fans are saying he hasn’t fought since you know May of last year he got jumped and was actually injured from yeah Leon didn’t fight for like almost two years he got the shot colby colby listen it’s not like I’m a big oh Colby Colt you know Colby Covington deserves this shot at the title and and I I don’t blame uh Leon Leon just got through uzman twice and now he’s looking at another wrestler you know that you know with a funky style that that’s tough to deal with um but that’s it I mean when you become the champ everybody’s coming after you that all all the straight killers are coming at you for the next you know three times the year you’re faced with nothing but the baddest dudes in the world in your division so um it’s just part of the uh I mean if you look at uzman and what he did uzman ran through that division twice um usman’s one of the greatest of all time and he uh you know Leon just beat him twice you’re the man Leon you’re the guy everybody’s coming after you it’s going to be called me next thank you cool you guys done with me have a great night San Antonio appreciate it foreign beautiful congratulations on the great performance um you’d mentioned that you’d trained with her in the past so did that fight play out kind of how you suspected it would based on your training experiences um somewhat um I was when I trained with her I knew her clinch was strong I knew she was you know just a strong a girl I knew that she trained hard she’s she’s kind of got that grind and that grit in her so I figured that would be there um I wanted to stand up a little more but the fact that she was grabbing on so much I thought well let’s just go with it then and just do some wrestling and kind of take it from here then you go to an increase fix in a second I think it looked like you were even going to read naked choke at one point but you sort of chasing the Finish did you think it was close or were you just sort of I’m taking my time and what happens happens should have taken a little more time to get a little into the fight if I would have kind of solidified a little more solid position before I let the strikes go um and as far as the rear naked I could have sat there and focused on a little more but I also was controlling on top that sometimes I don’t want to just Chase something so much and then lose lose a good position so that’s why I let go of it yeah um after the fight you didn’t call out any names but there are like I think only two people ranked above you at this point so is it sort of you know the title or bust I’ll wait for an opportunity or I’ll just keep fighting until I get a tighter shot see whatever they come come up with um yeah I definitely feel there’s there I’ve fought Rock Hill Pennington twice so sometimes that doesn’t make sense however if that’s the fight again then you know but other than that yeah it’s like opinion of the championship I guess but um you never know things things change so much and you never know I just want to keep getting better in the gym and whatever they whatever they present is what’s going to be yeah I love someone for me you used your post-fight speech to use a platform I believe to um sort of speak out against the sexualization of children I’m curious if you wanted to use your platform again now to sort of go into further detail you know there there’s a lot of things I don’t ever want to be um not like a real political person I don’t like to put that stuff on on any of my social media or because I think there’s just but there’s also just right and wrong and I feel like everybody should be on the same side on that I don’t feel like that has anything to do with left side right side or anything like that I feel like everybody should be wanting to protect our children and and there there’s there’s stuff that is there’s a lot of child trafficking and I mean that’s like the extreme part but it there’s there’s a lot of a lot of levels to it um you just see it almost being more accepted and I think that that’s really sad um so I just feel like we should all do what we can I know it’s like a lot of people don’t even know what to do but if I can at least have a voice on it and that’s something I can speak out on it and it’s just to get everybody together to protect children is childhood is really affects people in their in their long-term life too I mean um I have I have friends that are adults and their biggest thing that kind of is this shadow kind of that dark space in them as being sexualized when they were young and I just feel like it’s almost getting um accepted Holly when would you like to return like if you could map out the rest of 2023 what would it look like right now I didn’t get any injuries in the fight um so I mean it’s always nice to not it’s more of a mental break to not have a fight scheduled but I’m sure in two weeks I’ll be bored and be like what’s my purpose you know so we’ll see what happens I don’t really have like a set timeline but um you know we’ll see and and you’re fighting now in into your 40s and you’re obviously in phenomenal shape your performances are great um but but how would you describe sort of this chapter of your career how do you feel physically in terms of like Prime do you feel like there’s a lot more to give there’s different levels that you that you can achieve do you feel like we’ve yet to see uh the best of Ali home I do feel that um there’s there’s the recovery that takes a little more you know if I really look back on what’s different now at 41 then at 31 it’s just I have to actually schedule in my recovery uh in between my trainings but I’m able to do it I have the time to do it um I’m definitely more careful when I train I want to train hard but also I also want to make sure I’m not getting injured in training and things like that um but I do feel like I’m still evolving I feel like I’m still learning and I want to use a little bit of what what I was doing great before and added on with things that I’ve learned and just keep keep putting it all together you know um at first it was like watch out for a boxing then it was watch out for kicks and then it was like watch out for a clench and now they’re like well her wrestling’s getting there too and you know I’m always working on something and I want to be able to really just be able to put it all together and I still feel like I have that all in me yeah and we’ve seen you grapple a lot in in recent years um do you enjoy it more than the boxing what would you rather box I mean your opponent is obviously looked to Grapple you I actually I still I think my love will always be striking you know but I do have a new Found Love uh with kind of just the grind and the wrestling aspect of it and and grappling you know it’s like things that when I first started um I think the more you learn with anything you obviously enjoy it the more you know it and when you’re first learning you know any kind of grappling or Jiu Jitsu it’s like I don’t even know what to do and then when you start learning how to pass and how to you know do what you want to do and impose your will on someone to get some more fun so um but still in my heart striking’s always what I enjoy the most yeah and going into this fight the big news was that you signed a new deal with the UFC six fights um do you think this is the last deal you sign with the UFC meaning like do you think we’ll see the rest of your career play out within these six fights that’s very possible um I don’t ever really like to put a timeline on myself but I definitely know that I’m not 25 or 30 anymore I still feel very healthy right now but six fights is still quite a bit of time so yeah I definitely know that you know retirement is sooner than it was 10 years ago but but I’m not ready to do it right yet so yeah for sure and you fought so many people in the division and your longevity is is quite impressive is there any names that besides the belt is there any names that you would like to come across and fight is there is there any of that oh I’ve never called anybody out I always just want to be ready for anyone um I think sometimes if you get so focused on one person you know that maybe you’re not you don’t get excited for if it’s a different type of Fight You know I just want to be ready for anybody um so we’ll see what happens thank you Holly over here uh to make a quick analogy so later in his career Michael Jordan added the turnaround jumper as his bread and butter for you later in your career after the grappling display you’ve been putting on is that something that might be your bread and butter as we kind of progress into the later part of your career yeah you know if there’s a few things there’s there’s been no stop me from you know ground and pound or a submission I still got those out there I mean I’m always liking The Knockouts and I always like the technical Knockouts all that kind of stuff but I still feel like there’s unfinished business so and with it being women’s history month this month I would just like to know I don’t know if you ever get a chance to reflect on your career but how does it feel knowing that you are not only you know Boxing Hall of Famer but you will be a first value of C Hall of Famer and all that good stuff I take a I’m very humble and I feel a lot of support and I’m super blessed to be able to be a female and be an athlete um I feel proud to be a female and to be an athlete and um I I’m proud to be a woman I love being a woman and I’m a competitive woman um you know I feel like um I want to always use my platform to try and be positive to people and to other women not just women everyone but um to other women too you know I feel like sometimes people can feel like maybe what they’re supposed to do is maybe like on this certain path and I feel like my book is different than anybody else’s and this is what my path has been you know I did 10 years of boxing and now I’m doing I’m I’ve done a decade of martial arts and you know 10 years ago people thought I should have retired then so um I don’t know I just feel I feel like I’m I’m on my own journey and I’m thankful that I have a team that supports that you know and isn’t trying to I feel like if people don’t support you really or think that you should retire too that makes you feel weak you know and I’m just glad that I have a strong team that’s like yeah we can do it and they truly believe in me um but I’m proud to be a woman and do what I do and be writing my own book thank you hi Holly uh would you like to share a card of Jon Jones in the summer I believe he’s wanting to fight an international fire weekend in July does that sound good you know I I think I’m just ready for whatever you know I think I always love to be on on a big card um so I definitely uh I welcome any kind of exciting card like that I just uh I try not to put anything too much in my head I want to just wait and see um whatever opportunity the UFC presents can you recall the the best backflip you’ve ever done Inside the Cage um I mean they all mean Victory so it’s just uh I’ll tell you the story of my first backflip though I got knocked out and it was the first time I ever had a loss like that and I was coming back for a fight I was super nervous my coach Mike Winkle John he’s like everybody does like backhand Springs up which now we see a lot more stuff in MMA people are back flipping all over the cage at the time though I was just doing an unboxing you don’t really see people doing that a lot and he’s like can you do a backflip and I was like after 10 Rounds I don’t know I’m not like a standing backflip person but I can always do it off your hands so we practice it one time at the gym after hitting myths and then after the fight he was like oh you want to do it I was like oh yeah let’s do the backflip he’s like here if you win we’re gonna do it and so then it just it became a thing so um that may be you know that to me was just there was a moment that helped me get past like um being so nervous to get back in there and kind of put a different kind of mindset um on something I don’t know it’s just like an exciting thing to do and get that Victory so it’s always meant something and every Victory is great but uh I don’t know I guess they’re all I have like different stories for each one so and how do you plan on celebrating uh this victory I’m actually gonna go meet with I have a lot of family here that I don’t get to see much and a lot of friends that are here and I get to go embrace them and just celebrate together awesome congrats on the victory thank you Holly um Donald Cerrone got inducted or it was announced that he’s going to be inducted into UFC hall of fame um I don’t know if you have any any thoughts on that yeah I actually saw him here and I I had no idea and congratulations to him um I think that’s I mean I think that’s any Fighters especially when you’re you know at the you know he’s retired I think that’s anybody’s uh wants to be inducted I mean that’s that’s a huge honor so um I hope to join that someday Dana said you would be oh awesome well I’ll wait till that time comes appreciate y’all thank you thank you where that was a great performance tonight very very funny uh it’s a great performance tonight but I have to say split I think caught a few people by surprise when you heard that what was the emotion going through your head right there I I think I do a pretty good job of sometimes keeping like real good track of the volume the damage and the takedowns and I thought that I was doing that almost the entire fight uh if you extend yourself too much uh you’re putting yourself In Harm’s Way you know like that’s not how other sports work when you’re like winning you play differently than when you’re losing so I thought that I was winning most of those rounds um you know like maybe the third I was like eh you know that was maybe like a little bit close but I thought that I was bagging the other ones definitely knew that I had the first two so uh yeah confusing but that’s like the sport of MMA until like the rules get fixed and it’s just going to keep happening yeah so for what it’s worth the guy scored the last three for him but I haven’t seen anyone else who agrees with them yet well yeah if they would have scored one of those first two for him that would be like a real riot the last three are pretty well um how happy are you with your own performance you’ve had great volume sort of kept him on the back foot most of the fight how happy are you doing oh yeah I was really happy with it uh I think I did exactly what I have to do you know like when you fight these top guys especially when they’re like knockout artists kind of like Marlin is um you just have to fight them in a certain way Marlin doesn’t close distance very well so I knew as long as I wasn’t closing the distance for him he was gonna have a really hard time hitting me um and I think that I fought like almost a perfect fight for fighting that type of opponent yeah he’s like notorious for sort of getting his offense going in the fourth and fifth so when you’re going into those rounds do you take a mental note of like okay this is where he could potentially be more dangerous are you just treating it the same no absolutely like uh every round my coaches go he’s going to come out harder now he’s going to come out harder now so uh no that was definitely expected that’s how Marlin fights um he shouldn’t fight like that to be honest if I had like a critique he should not like even when I had him down in the first two I was like what’s this guy doing you know like uh but uh that worked out good for me but um yeah I knew he was going to come out just harder and harder and harder do you think that’s like an energy conservation thing he’s doing or is it a counter opportunity he’s looking for why do you think he chooses to fight like that I mean I I have no idea you know like I really have no idea I was pretty happy with the way that I was really in good shape tonight you know like uh it’s not easy on like the body to mix in the wrestling then go back to striking mixing the wrestling go back to strike and be fast on your feet and then also like kind of like have that grindy wrestle in this so um that’s something I was super happy about that I was doing because that’s like a very difficult task in MMA so um yeah and then a rare one from you a call out yeah with uh well I got something for you to eat and it don’t taste good how stupid is that it was like listen it was like listening to jail called out Anderson all over again it was supposed to be as stupid as possible so I hope that I accomplished that I would say you did yes all right cool yeah coriava right over your chair left um I want to go off of murab since you called him out um did you know that he was in the crowd he was actually right behind you and also what is it about him that you see that that could be a good match uh I think Marlins or uh Marlon uh I think marab is the best guy in the division right now outside the uh who’s fighting for the title um I don’t want to like shy away from challenges I don’t want to be that guy I want to inspire people I don’t want to like cherry pick my fights all the way to the top uh I want to fight the best guys so that when I do get the title I can defend it because I’m experienced and um I think my Rob is like a perfect challenge for my type of style for my type of fighting he’s going to make me train really hard because of how good he is and those are the types of guys I don’t want to fight and if I can get past him then I 100 deserve a title shot and uh like I said I just don’t want to be like Cherry pit guy the guy’s on like a 9-5 win streak who am I to like call him out before or or to ask for a title before him you know like I’m not gonna set that standard in MMA you know like people should be more real about it bantamweight obviously this division is one of the craziest right now and especially with me back I asked Dana the same thing what is your overall thought about the state of bantamweight uh it’s great and you know what I think it’s going to be great for a really long time um that I think is what makes it super special is because it’s going to be the way that it is in my opinion in two years you know like the sport changes a lot all the time but um the other divisions I don’t think have like the packed lineup that we have at 135 so uh I got like a lot a lot of tough fights ahead of me um but I think it’s going to be like this for a really long time thanks hi um you was a was a nice fight for you a great experience do you think the two first rounds were the key for you get a win uh yeah I mean in a five-round fight in a five round game if you lose the first two you have to win the next three that’s like horrible strategy to lose those first two um so like from a strategic standpoint you like can’t lose the first two because then and you lit you have to win the next 15 minutes and that’s not easy against the top guys in the world so uh yeah you can fight a little bit different when you’re up two rounds well Chito is one of the most difficult fighters on the arena you know uh with this win you think is now trying to be focused on on the Belt Maybe um I’m always focused on the Belt yep I’m always focused on the Belt so thanks yeah hey Corey right here um at the end of the fourth round it seemed like he had kind of like taken his mouthpiece out and he had spat on the ground and you guys kind of locked eyes after that what were you thinking at that point bring it no I’m just kidding um it was like uh I don’t know it’s fighting dude you know like you hey man you got five more minutes to win this thing you gonna do it or not you know and am I gonna stop you or not so I love fifth rounds man there’s nothing like a fifth round energy especially in between like four and five like knowing that you only got like five more minutes to go like that’s my one of my favorite parts of this Sport and then at the end obviously you guys embraced a little bit did what did he have to say to you at the end of the fight uh normal stuff hey nice job man it was nice to fight you you know same thing uh I respect cheeto a lot you know like uh she does an inspiring guy he he like he came from Ecuador which doesn’t have too many other UFC fighters or if any um I know that he’s inspiring like his community back there so you know I don’t have I I don’t judge people really at all so cheeto’s personality is his personality but I think that what he’s doing with his life is probably inspiring a lot of people and that’s like super cool and uh I got love for him for that and we obviously know Cheeto is a little bit of a slow starter obviously but I mean through three rounds were you going into that fourth round thinking like all right he’s got to pick it up at some point here were you expecting him to attack a little more than he did uh yeah but you can only do so much with certain like skills you know like that that’s like he kept saying the whole week like whoever wants it more is going to win and it’s like at some point you run into other people that wanted the same amount as you and then you have to be better than them or else you’re going to go home like crying you know because he lost and uh that’s just like the name of the game in sports like you have to like at some point you you start finding people that want it as much as you that work as hard as you and at that point you have to be like a better learner and a better fighter and just better overall technically and um I really believe that I was that over Cheeto awesome thank you man yep Corey how confident would you say that uh your next fight will be against murab uh like um 90 I don’t know yeah and you guys are on similar timelines he like recently fought um so ideally at least on your end when would you like that fight to happen uh I got pretty hurt a couple times in this Camp so uh like I might need a elbow surgery I was kind of going into it but not like 100 but not enough to look really like super hard about it but I might need an elbow surgery I get married on September 1st my fiance will kill me if I if we have the wedding and I have to still be training for a fight so it will definitely have to be before September 1st or my fiance will kill both me and yeah it’s feisty yeah yeah and there’s been a lot of debate uh about where the UFC bantamweight division stands just among the sport a lot of people say it’s the greatest a lot of people still put uh lightweight right now um where you who compete in this uh in this division would you say it’s like the best the most competitive in the sport right now well I think I think lightweight and bantamweight are super exciting um yeah I don’t I don’t know I love 155 too um my teammate gaichi fights for them and so I’m like super into 155 too I I don’t really know you know I yeah I don’t know sorry I’ll get it and then May 6th obviously we’re gonna get the the title fight between sahuto and Sterling um who do you think wins that one how do you see that fight playing out uh I I really can’t call that one um I don’t really know because I think uh Al Jermaine is gonna have a really hard time getting behind suhuto but aljamin is going to have like a really significant size difference over suhuda which matters um so to be honest I don’t really know how to call that one yeah sorry my eyes hurting now oh you’re good well congrats on the win thanks uh hi Corey uh was there any consideration in calling Sean O’Malley out yeah there was until I watched Murad fight last week and like beat up yelling the way that he beat up yawn and O’Malley and Jan’s fight was really close like I said man like in my opinion murab’s more deserving of a title shot um than O’Malley is so if the UFC is set on have an O’Malley fight for the title which is what I kind of hear that they’re doing um that I want to fight the next like top guy even though I think he’s the topper guy do you think he’s gonna sit and uh sit around and wait for the title shot or do you think he’s going to be active and fight again before uh if if he was promised a title shot then he’s definitely gonna wait for the title if O’Malley wants to fight we can 100 for sure fight um I would love that fight I think the fans would love that fight but like I said I I want to fight like the guy who I think is better who’s morale awesome man do you have like any more in or was there any other candidates for the interesting cause that you did was there any other options uh then the route that you went uh marab and O’Malley yeah or like you know when you call that murab you had like uh you know about the food and stuff like that did you have any other like uh were you planning anything anything else in there oh no no that was it that was yeah that was the end of the stupidity yeah it was it was perfect awesome thank you Corey and what do you make of uh because you clearly have a different approach what do you make of uh Sean O’Malley kind of sitting out and just waiting for the title so you know uh I I don’t know I don’t really want to judge him if I was promised to title shout I’d probably sit around you know like you get paid more you get more notoriety all of this and that so if I was promised a title shout out I would probably sit around until I got my title shot too just spend some time getting better yeah um the you know being a World Champ is a goal so if you ever promise that then like yeah don’t mess that up and can we expect more cheesy call-outs is that the plan maybe yeah maybe that’ll be my thing stupid call outs yeah I need a thing I’m too boring thank you again and congrats yep thanks guys uh Corey I have one quick one okay um in the promo there was a portion that essentially I I’m paraphrasing here but she essentially said you know they’re they’re saying that you know Cheeto needs a title shot over me or they’re going to give him a shot over me do you think emotionally that kind of helped you in in you know locking in for this fight even more so than you already are yeah because I think it’s ridiculous um I beat song who beat Cheeto and then like Cheeto jumped up to three I was like what is going on here you know but you know he had a couple good Knockouts and people improve and this and that so I get it uh but um I definitely don’t think Cheetos better than me and like so when he was ranked above me and getting a bunch of like attention because he was like hype guy then yeah that like bothers me but uh I don’t know I don’t really have too many opinions about a lot of this stuff to be honest with you I just like show up every day and try to get myself better thank you yep very much