Heated Conversations with Booker T
Episode 179: UFC Breakdown, What’s next for Conor?
Release Date: October 6th, 2018
Recap by: James Hayes
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Booker T and Co-Host Brad Gilmore welcome you to the show!
UFC 229
Booker and Brad are excited about the big fight.
Brad wonders if this Khabib vs McGregor fight a super fight? Is it a bigger super fight than Stipe vs Cormier?
“For me, this is a super fight. I’m gonna pay for it. I’m gonna support the cause. A lot of times these Pay Per Views I say, “I ain’t paying for that. I’m not spending money on that, but this fight s intriguing. The whole card is intriguing, we got guys on the card that we actually know.”
Brad is almost shocked by this rarity.
Booker resumes, “The last PPV, the main event was the only guys that I knew. Pretty much. Everybody else on the card… I was talking to Steve Austin about this and he was trying to really put it over, and it was hard for me to really put the show over. I knew these were guys we’re probably never going to see again. The show was in Dallas, Texas. They had hometown guys on the card, and you think they going to give those guys a shot anywhere other than Dallas? Every one of those fighters had to sell at least 50 tickets (to get on the show).”
Booker wonders where are all the stars?
“Alex Gustafsson, just a little while ago he was the flavor of the month. Everybody thought Alexander was going to be the guy to take over the division and bring a country with him. It just doesn’t happen like that. Cain Velasquez is another guy. I think he is training to get back in.” Brad confirms that Cain had an injury and was last seen training in the WWE Performance Center.”
Khabib vs. Conor
“This is a big night. It’s the most excited I’ve been for a Conor McGregor fight. I was listening to Nate Diaz and he was talking about how Khabib fights like a little woman. He didn’t use that term. My thing is he’s not looking for a fight with Khabib, he doesn’t want to get mauled or anything like that. This guy is a different kind of fighter. When a guy like Nate Diaz says, “I ain’t trying to go down that road.” That is a very bumpy road. I don’t care if you riding in a Bently it’s gone be cobblestones, just bumps, and lumps. So, a guy like Khabib, Connor is going to have to do something totally spectacular to pull this fight off. I’ve been watching Conor training and his methods, he’s been doing a whole lot of wrestling, a whole lot of grappling, trying to figure out how to not get this match on his back.”
Brad thinks that Conor will be fine if they remain standing, “He might be one of the best stand-up strikers in the sport. Top 3. All time.” Booker agrees and thinks it’s only between him and Anderson Silva.
“Silva was a guy, when he got on his back things didn’t fare out too well. A lot of times he came out on top, but things didn’t fare out too well. If Conor McGregor finds himself on his back, it’s going to be a long night. The one thing we know about Conor is he will quit. Right. We know that.”
Brad asks, ”How do we know that? We saw he tap out, that’s what you’re saying? To the choke from Nat?”
Booker pauses for like 5 seconds.
“Well, of course.” Brad defends himself, “I don’t know if that’s quitting. That’s losing.”
Booker objects, “He was in dire straights prior to quitting, by getting hit with big shots” ”
Brad says, “That goes to conditioning.” Booker responds, ”His conditioning is good when he’s winning. Conor is a finisher, but he’s bigger than most of his opponents. When he moved up in weight, that’s when he got in trouble.”
Brad says, “Like with Nate.”
Booker wants to know if Brad thinks Nate could beat Khabib. Brad answers no but says Diaz is not the boxer Conor is.
Booker knows that the more pressure Khabib pours on, the more likely it is that Conor will quit.
He thinks back to the press conference, “Conor McGregor was trying to psyche himself up, but when that cage closes he has no choice but to fight.” Brad asks why is Booker trying to frame this fight as if Conor is running from it. That is not his rep.” Booker explains, “It’s fight or flight. You wouldn’t know anything about that.”
This shot offends Brad, so Booker cleans it up and explains he was speaking of Texas law, regarding physical conflicts.
“When things get tough… he is looking for a way out.” Booker reaffirms. Brad continues to defend his man. “This has only happened once, against Diaz. He moved up weight and took a fight at short notice, that’s not quitting, that’s losing. He folded from the conditioning, but then came back and won!”
Booker knows, “Conor doesn’t want to get beat up. When you got money and you find yourself in a fight you ask yourself asking yourself, ”Do I really need to do this?”
Booker T predicts the fight is over in three and a half rounds. Conor loses.
Brad thinks Conor will win in the third.
Spoiler Alert!!!!!!
Booker was right. Conor quit. Khabib put him to bed in the 4th.
Then this happened.
Spoiler Over
Juiced to the Gills
Brad informs us that now USADA isn’t going to give us the name of the fighters that fail. “It’s a new policy, the will not announce the name, but the fighter will be pulled from the card. They are not gonna put them on blast.”
Booker says they won’t put the athletes on blast the way that did Ben Johnson.”I loved Ben Johnson. He’s probably still wondering what happened and how he got caught. Carl Lewis was the fastest man in the world, but on that day Ben Johnson had nitrogen oxide.” Brad says, “He had more than that.”
Booker continues, “He came out of the box like BAM! He hit that 100-meter dash like something I’ve never seen. It was like a car on the tracks. That’s how fast it was going, that’s what the PED’s do for you.”
The race
“Look at old Lance Armstrong,” Brad brings up the disgraced cyclist. “They call Lance Armstrong the most prolific cheater in all sports,” Brad asks Booker who else does he think now has an asterisk by their name, other than the obvious Armstrong, Barry Bonds, and Mark McGwire.
Booker says, “Jon Jones. I think he’s in that category. He definitely falls into that category.”
(They forgot Brock.)
Booker praises Daniel Cormier. “DC has never fallen in that category.” (I guess he likes Cormier this week.)
Booker continues, ”It’s like that Kavanaugh thing. Ain’t no women gone come out on me. I’m not dirty. These days stuff can be looked up. You know if you dirty or not. It’s one thing… You know if you’re dirty. I was listening to a guy online. The reporter asks him a question, I knew the guy, the reporter asks, “Have you ever did this?” And he said, “No.” “And I knew he was lying. That person… was Ahmed Johnson.”
BIG laughs from Brad.
More shots at Ahmed Johnson
(For the third straight week Ahmed is being ripped by these two. Ahmed, please put up some type of defense.)
Brad continues to fuel the fire. “A lot of people responded to that episode we had a couple weeks back, where you called out Tony Norris (Johnson), good old Tony Norris to walk around the block, then you changed it to an in-ring encounter between the two of you.” Booker is disappointed that the big man never responded. ‘I haven’t heard anything. He hasn’t posted any photos, but someone been posting photos for him. So, Ahmed Johnson, I’m still calling you out. I wanna meet you in person at Reality of Wrestling.”
Brad feels doing it here is not fair because Booker would be on his home turf. “You have home field advantage. We should give him home field advantage. We should do this in Dallas Cowboy Stadium. That’s where he played and that’s where he should feel most at home.”
Booker no sells Brad’s idea.
Reality of Wrestling
Another big show is coming in the next week.
Fatal Four Way
Rex Andrews vs Gino vs. Able Andrew Jackson vs Ryan Davis
Rex Andrews bit the hand that feeds him and disrespected Booker.
“I’m gonna make sure Rex gets everything coming to him. He’s been champ for a couple months and he’s about to lose it! It’s going to be quick and the thing is, it’s gonna be painless too. It’s going to be very very painless. Rex Andrews is going to be on his way back to Dothan, Alabama. One-way bus ticket to Dothan once the match is over, so guys come out and watch Rex Andrews last match at Reality of Wrestling. He’s gonna get beat up, bruised, battered, and torn.”
Brad wants Booker to calm down. He does not think Andrews should be punished for making some slightly dismissive comments.
Booker double downs. “Rex Andrews thinks he’s better than everyone else. If it wasn’t for me he would never have been at Reality of Wrestling.”
DDP has a new book coming out.
“Even back in the day in the locker room DDP was mentoring guys, he was the ultimate entrepreneur. He told me, ”You got to come up with something with those 5 championships thing.” I rode with him once and the whole time DDP would watch his matches while traveling to critique himself.”
The book is called Positively Unstoppable: The Art of Owning It
Before The Final Bell
What’s next for Conor?
He wants a rematch with Floyd Mayweather, in the boxing ring or in the octagon. Conor will also take the Nate Diaz fight anytime and anywhere. Plus Conor would love to fight “The Spider” Anderson Silva.
Booker says this is all nonsense, “Why not call out some of these young studs? That’s what the UFC is all about.”
Rating: 7.5 out of 10
Overall Observations:
This was a fine show. There was nothing newsworthy or especially controversial, but it’s always fun to listen to the easy chemistry that Booker and Brad have.
See ya next week!
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