Joe Rogan - Conor's Coach on the UFC 229 Brawl

if we did end up on our backs was not to put a massive amount of effort into getting up, just play guard and stay safe because you know the next round starts on the feet and try to do damage there but it's still tiring you know i you know connor gets a hard time about his about his cardio all the time but who else could be faced that didn't look like that after two rounds? Ayaquinta. Ayaquinta yeah yeah i mean i was super impressed with ally aquinta in that fight especially considering he came into that fight looking for a third a three-round fight i mean that was what he was trained for right he was trained for a three-round fight and it changes up and all of a sudden he's in a five-round fight for the title fucking crazy yeah crazy set of circumstances but it almost makes you wonder and this is you could speak to this better than anybody how much how much is too much in regard to training for a fight like this like maybe training for a three-round fight is the way to go when you have to fight a five-round fight so you're not so fucking beat up by the time you get to the fight if you already know how to fight five rounds you've already done it if you're a guy like connor has just got so much experience in the game it might be that it's like there's a point of diminishing returns in terms of your strength and conditioning and that guys just go too far push too hard and just don't have it when it comes to i mean how many times have you seen a fighter be over trained when they fight very often definitely you know they've given their best rounds in the gym and it's very difficult as well in those last two weeks because anxiety is starting to grow so you want to train harder right you want to get one more sparring and you want to yeah you know because the fight's coming it's almost like when you're back in school and you're cramming for an exam well if the exams tomorrow i'm going to stay up all night studying right you know and i actually got me through college so it works so much but but in fighting we got to do we got to do the opposite we don't have it we got to have a solid taper off period and that is hard when you're dealing with a 20 something year old man and he's dealing with what's what's coming around the corner so but you know that's that's the trainer's job you know how much did he taper off for this fight same as usual we have about a two-week taper off period where we start bringing it down um he did he did actually spar even after that um you know we're we were working very hard for this fight in the limit you know somewhat limited period of time um so we did didn't taper off quite the way we normally do but roughly two weeks if you wanted to do a rematch and the ufc did grant a remit then this is obviously dependent upon how the Nevada state athletic commission handles the legal ramifications of him jumping out of the cage attacking dylan dannis the subsequent brawl the chaos that ensued visas i mean you're you're dealing with a lot of legal shit in this fight that that could hold things up i mean they held both guys purses correct uh well they held uh habib's connor got his yeah okay connor got his purse paid so so he gets his purse and kabib i mean who the fuck knows what's going to happen with him you know and uh yeah i i hope they're they're lenient on them and not just so we can get a rematch i mean i love watching invite first out um and i can i can stretch myself to understand his reaction yeah i can stretch myself to understand i can't stretch myself to understand the other guys reactions and what and what they did yes but he jumped over the cage and he jumps it's it's not the end of the world who was the guy that jumped in that was wearing red who punched connor yeah i'm i'm not sure i think that's his boxing coach but i'm i'm guessing he's a fighter he fights for the ufc uh in the red was that not an old he wasn't older oh okay you work with him there you go who is he i don't know his name is he the islam or ristan yeah yeah it was either islam or ristan yeah i don't think it was either one of those guys like i know is a different guy he was you know he hit yeah and a guy in a suit that i heard is his russian manager he hit dylan either way um there's but actually in the cage when your man went in and and hit him from behind yeah you know i can't i can't understand that like i said for for for her bebe i didn't think it was you know it was it's just it's almost it's such a foolish thing to do because it's interesting to do it already won yeah i know that dylan was talking shit and he was angry but well he actually didn't say anything because i i heard a few people saying that now i was standing beside dylan i didn't see what he did but i could hear so he didn't say anything you know and i watched back i seen he kind of beckoned him on yeah you know just stupid end of fight stuff but i didn't think it justified that level of response now maybe there was something else in the lead up you know probably dylan is a bit of a troll online so uh there's probably a bit of a build up of other stuff but um yeah like i said it wasn't that big a deal to me what habib did yeah just really wasn't well there's two ways of looking at it in terms of like the trash talking and one way is that man does that sell a fight i mean it sells a fight i mean connor's one of the best ever at it not the best ever at it talking shit to opponents getting them riled up i mean it is the reason why jose although lost his composure and came charging face first at connor i mean you gotta think emotions played a big part of that it ramps up your stress it ramps up the fighter's anxiety anticipation and it ramps up the pressure on them to win and to and this emotion that they're fighting with fucks up their judgment it just does and it's a major tool that connor that connor uses and but on the other hand people say well i'd like it when fighters are respectful and this is one of the things that could be saying this this this sport should be about respect you should be talking about someone's family shouldn't be talking about someone's religion you shouldn't be talking about someone's country but you know on the other hand that's one of the reasons why connor's so fucking huge it's not just his results it's all the other things that come along with it is the excitement that he generates the shit talking the who the fuck is that guy like that kind of shit that's a big part of who he is it's a part of who he is as this cultural icon i mean it's one of the reasons why people love him i mean they don't just love his ability inside the octagon which is quite substantial they love the swagger they love when he comes in with rubber arms and and struts around the cage they love all that shit they love all that shit but it's like when is too far and that is the question when is too far yeah um yeah you know connor's a real uh divider you know some people will love it and some people hate it i'm not really that interested in people's opinions on things i'm just interested in what is and what is that sells fights yeah there's a reason he's the highest paid guy um so if that is what is and that's just natural for him to do as well it's not an act it's not you know when he's sparring like him and artham are best of friends and every single sparring he should talk to each other oh yeah shit today you know you know i'm formed today and you know people listen to that i'm like they hate each other and then speak smiles at the end of it it's just part of the game for him it's part he enjoys it it's a bit of fun this one was darker you know as dana said it definitely was but it's just part of who he is i don't really involve myself in it i try to stay outside of that and then just focus on the the task and how does it ever get cringy for you because you are a very respectful guy yeah i mean it's absolutely not my personality it's absolutely not my personality but again i don't find my own opinions on things very interesting i'm only interested in um what is you know there's a fact that he he does this and it's gotten the results he has okay well i guess that's what he does it's not how i am right i mean you look at the two biggest names in combat sports floyd mayweather and connor mcgregor they both do it yeah i mean you know like my favorite fighter back in the day was fedor and uh there was a man that barely said anything and the the purists if you want to say loved him but he was also fighting mostly in japan it's different vibe it's a different culture than here um you know you could be that guy and i almost have the two extremes i've got an elson who you never hear a blip out of yes and then i have connor who's you know the other end of the scale and um you know you can only be true to yourself but at i look at their their you know their followings and their sponsorship deals and their fight purses and stuff and it's obvious which one is is doing better you know if yeah if we can agree on the object of prize fighting is to make money and that's it the object of martial arts i think is very different but the object of prize fighting and don't ever lose sight of that as soon as i hear a fighter saying it's for some other reason i'll try to make them retire as quick as possible because not being smart you know you're taking damage for money and keep keep that in mind no matter what your your choices are do you have guys in the gym that you see that sort of mimic connor of course of course yeah you're talking you're dealing with teenagers and and and twenties yeah and that's you know i look back on myself it's a hugely impressionable impressionable period of your life you're all you're looking you know we young men almost try out different personalities and you be such a strong personality in the gym definitely i can i can spot the 18 year old walking in with the man bun and the suit telling me he's going to be the next year i probably would have been the same at 18 you know it's it's no different but i true again months and years of conversations you know not telling them what to do but conversations i sort of say this is a completely natural thing to do but start to find your own voice and find your own way and if that's who you were you enjoy that side of it roam with it if it's not who you were even the fans will see true very quick as well you know the fans can see when someone is genuinely doing something and and doing it as as an act