Who do you think would be the tougher matchup for Islam?

I think it has to be, you have to say, Morales, because he is undefeated, and we haven't seen what he can do yet, really.

He hasn't gotten to those later rounds to see.

I thought I was going to fight Protest at one point, so I went back.

I watched old tape on him.

I watched him in one FC.

I've seen him get taken down.

What do you think he's approach is going to be against Sean Brady?

How would you describe the experience? [laughs]

He's just...

It's just so different than what we do.

Like I said, I don't have a traditional wrestling background.

The way that they're...

He's just so low to the ground.

Um, you can't learn that in six to seven weeks when I found out about this match.

Mm.

Can you walk us through that metaphor? I think that's a, that's a great way to look at this.

Yeah.

So this...

I love this, and I didn't come up with this.

This has been around for a long time, and people talk about it in, in, in safety ci- um, circles.

But it's a, it's a great way to think about how failure of our systems to keep our sa- people safe actually, actually work.

So think about it like this.

Did you wanna expound on that a little bit more?

Was it like, how did you end up on this path for like a lot of young kids who are watching you and inspired by you? Um, you're a hero, whether you like it or not, you know, you're a role model and a lot of kids want to know like, what was it? The family, like take us through the steps of what made you into this life as a, as a world-class athlete.

Yeah, I always wanted to be a pro athlete at something.

Growing up, I loved riding dirt bikes.

I loved doing stuff like that, but I never really played traditional sports.

I was never really into it until I got into ninth grade.

Eighth grade, I started lifting weights.

You know how that goes.

You know? Yeah.

in your youth.

Yeah, yeah.

I feel like my first...

I remember I was an amateur.

I was 4, and I was a amateur.

My last amateur fight, like, I would, I was 19 years old, so w- I'd go out and party every weekend before my fights.

And then one time I missed weight as an amateur, and, uh, I was like, "Never again." I cha- and that's where I kinda, my last amateur fight was for CFFC.

Oh, yeah

in your youth.

Yeah, yeah.

I feel like my first...

I remember I was an amateur.

I was 4, and I was a amateur.

My last amateur fight, like, I would, I was 19 years old, so w- I'd go out and party every weekend before my fights.

And then one time I missed weight as an amateur, and, uh, I was like, "Never again." I cha- and that's where I kinda, my last amateur fight was for CFFC.

Oh, yeah

Was this one of the more personal fights of your career? Usually you don't engage in the back and forth, but this one seemed a little bit different.

It, it wasn't personal for me.

He was trying to make it personal, but what, what pissed me off was when he, um, when he talked about the interaction we had at the PI where, like, he made it seem like he bitched me up when, uh, there was footage, like, at the PI that if they were able to release it, it would show me, like, clearly getting, like, more, like, intense than he was because I don't do the social media shit, and that's what I was telling him in personal.

I'm like, "Yo, bro, like, I don't like that shit.

I don't like talking shit, but we're face-to-face now." And he was just trying to be funny about it, and then, but I knew, like, that's not who he really is, you know what I'm saying? Like, it was all a show, and I said that in my media.

And the f- the day I seen him, he was sitting down, like, I seen him on Wednesday in the fighter hotel.

He's sitting down.

The line moving and all that, and was any of that coming to you? Were you hearing about all this? 'Cause it seemed like there was some fear that the fight might get pulled because of suspicious activity.

Yeah.

Present as can be, and when I, when I'm there, I can do that to anybody in the world, and, um, I wasn't there for Morales.

And unfortunately, it cost me, but at the end of the day, it's my decision to go in there and fight.

There's gonna be a winner and there's gonna be a loser, but that wasn't my, my best self, and that's why I was just saying, like, "Hey, I'm right here.

I deserve to be in the, back in the top five.

I beat Leon Edwards.

I thought I was gonna get a title shot.

Did you have the feeling in camp that it could be this dominant for you?

What was the immediate aftermath like? Like, how did you deal with the loss? How did you handle it?

Drove home, uh, with my daughter, my wife, and my best friend Simon.

Uh, had a cheat day.

And then got right back to training on, on Monday pretty much.

Um, it's a lot different than when I lost to Belal, because being a dad now, you don't have time to sit around and sulk.

You know? Like, she has to...

like, like, my daughter needs to be taken care of.

[laughs]

Why do you think it took so long for people to kinda take notice of what you were doing down in Philadelphia and really appreciate what you're doing in, in terms of your fighting style?

I think, uh, the Leon fight, like, really put me on the map.

Um, but I'm not, like, one of those super outspoken guys.

Like, I'm not doing any crazy shit on social media, anything like that.

Um, but I think my fighting style is finally starting to speak for me.

The Gilbert fight, the Leon fight, and now taking this fight, everyone sees it as like, "Oh, he's so highly ranked, and this guy's behind this," but we're all fighters.

A guy who's ran- a guy who's not even in the UFC could fuck somebody up who's in the UFC.

Why?

Why do you think it took so long for people to kinda take notice of what you were doing down in Philadelphia and really appreciate what you're doing in, in terms of your fighting style?

I think, uh, the Leon fight, like, really put me on the map.

Um, but I'm not, like, one of those super outspoken guys.

Like, I'm not doing any crazy shit on social media, anything like that.

Um, but I think my fighting style is finally starting to speak for me.

The Gilbert fight, the Leon fight, and now taking this fight, everyone sees it as like, "Oh, he's so highly ranked, and this guy's behind us." But we're all fighters.

A guy who's ran-...

Why?

Why?

And I lost that fight 'cause I was just so confident in it.

Like, I didn't think Belal was that good and, um, but now I'm like, "Everyone's good." I treat everything so much differently now and, uh, I learned so much from that fight.

I tried to be something I wasn't.

Um, and now I'm just, uh, true to myself.

I do what I do.

I train.

Get ready to obsess on Prime.

It's, uh, it's the fight that I wanted 'cause he was the last guy to hold the belt." And he wasn't quite sure why they moved on, other than it seemed like they weren't willing to guarantee that this would be, you versus him would be for the number one contender spot.

I mean, that all, like, uh, to, to Ian's credit, that all sounds pretty, pretty accurate, but the only thing that's kinda not accurate is, as far as I know, and you, you guys talked about it yesterday on your show, the UFC isn't guaranteeing ...

They're not saying any fight is a number one contender fight anymore.

Like, that's not, that's not, um, a thing that they're doing.

Like, uh, supposedly me and Leon were a number one contender fight back when we fought.

I talked to Hunter Campbell personally and, um, he told me, like, not, not publicly.

He was like, he was like, "You and Ian are gonna be a number one contender." So, no, like, I don't think they are publicly saying anything because they wanna see how these fights all shake out.

(laughs)

What did you think of how it all played out?

Oh, yeah, I mean, I definitely said going into it that, um, Jack, like, exactly what happened with Jack.

Jack's very hard to take down, and when you do get him down, he scrambles, um, very well.

I said that on maybe your podcast.

I know I said it on my podcast.

Clearly, he punches very hard.

I said that as well.

Yep, yep.

Were you putting on a front at all?

To be honest, no, I wasn't.

Um, yeah, yeah, it was definitely like crazy that it happened.

I posted a, a text message that I sent to Lloyd the other, the-The Tuesday we were getting discharged from the hospital, I texted him and, and I was literally looking at my daughter, and I sent him a picture.

I'm like, "Man me and Kristen were just talking earlier.

There's no way I would've been able to leave her." Like, it's just...

Like, I was like, "It's so good that this worked out." And then legit 12 hours later or something like that is when he called me and was saying that Jack was hurt, and he needed me to fight.

Is, is that accurate?